Undying Flame
by PyrrhaRose
Summary: Hunters have a bad habit of getting into things they don't understand. Follow this Rouge hunter as she meets more of her kind- but not in the way she expects. RWBY Destiny Crossover, My first story. OC, not OP.
1. Lunantics

—_Chapter One: Lunantics—_

"So, what exactly are we doing again?"

The Guardian makes her way through the tower, her hair up in its usual ponytail. Her 'Eternal Ponytail' as her fireteam calls it, as it's either in a ponytail or down freely around her shoulders. Her hair is anything but normal, a beautiful red with spots of dark black interwoven in her locks. Her eyes are almost pools of gold, befitting her place as a Gunslinger of the Tower. Her Ghost lazily floats over her shoulder. It lets out a sigh, it's shell doing a cute spin. The Ghosts shell is beautiful, in a word. Seemingly being a window to the Cosmos itself with stars twinkling on its surface.

"I've already told you, Guardian. Twice. Not counting the one on board the ship."

The Gunslinger waves at a few fellow Guardians, who are currently surrounding a Titan that just kicked the beloved purple ball off the tower.

He's likely to join it's decent soon.

"Well yeah, but all the people are like 'Listen up good people of the city!' But I can never tell what they say! I wanna know the announcement!"

Her Ghost lets out a tired sigh.

"I'm sure if it were important, you'd know. Besides, we have more important matters at hand. Ikora says it's time to face the Undying Mind."

The Guardian immediately perks up a little at that, habitually checking over her firearm: The Last Word.

"If you polish that thing anymore, you're going to rub the paint off it."

Her Ghost warns and earns a pout from the girl.

"Hey. Looking good is half the battle, Enya."

The Ghost shakes it's.. body? Head..? Ghosts don't have heads..

"No.. I'm pretty sure that's _knowledge_, Rouge."

She only receives a pout in return, her guardian slipping Last Word back in her holster.

"I told you. _Rogue_. It's pronounced _Rogue._"

Enya blinks, staring at her guardian.

"But it's spelled _Rouge._"

Rouge pouts more and gives her Ghost a halfhearted glare.

"I'll put you back in Eris' Shell."

"Rogue it is, then!"

The Ghost does a happy flip in the air, coming back down beside her guardian.

"Now, let's meet Ikora, get the bounties, and kick some a-.."

The Guardian looks around for just a moment, spying all the New Lights. Freshly chosen lightbearers here at the tower to join the rest of their kind.

Children, in a word. Kinderguardians.

"_Butt._ How many times do we even have to kill the Undying Mind?"

Her Ghost spins for a moment as the two continue their walk.

"All of them."

Rouge glances at her Ghost a moment, hopping over a railing and down into a small courtyard with a lone tree.

"You know. There _is _a perfectly good set of stairs. Right there."

Her Ghost turns to them to point the seldom used stairs out.

"But.. this is so much faster. And more fun. And cool. Never Use Stairs if there's a cooler way!"

Enya sighs as she catches up to her Guardian walking through the tunnels. She waves at the Sweeper Bot, only a little sad when it doesn't wave back.

"You could break your knees. Or Ankles. More likely your ankles."

"Buuuttttt! You can _un_break them!"

"I could also not. Just to see you struggle."

The Hunter stops again, looking at her Ghost with a betrayed look.

"You wouldn't!"

"You're right. But I would think about it."

The two continue their walk, Rouge trying her best to ignore the cries of 'Listen up Good People of the City!' And Hawthornes Speeches to Guardians about how they just never quit, do they?

Rouge hops up onto a table and uses it as a springboard to hop over a fence. The citizens don't even flinch, by now used to their tables being a stepping stone to Ikora Rey, Warlock Vanguard. That doesn't stop Rouge's Ghost from furiously apologising, though.

"Hey, Ikora!"

The hunter greets mid-bow to the Warlock Vanguard.

"Rouge? You're here early."

Rouge pouts again, her Ghost holding back a silent laugh.

"Rogue! It's _Rogue._"

Ikora shares a gentle laugh with Enya, shaking her head.

"The Portal is ready for you to face the Undying Mind. There is a beacon on the table that will summon it, alongside your normal bounties."

Rouge happily schwoops the aforementioned supplies up, shoving them into her ghosts space backpack.

"Oh, and Rouge?"

The Hunter pouts again but is interrupted before she can interrupt the Warlock Vanguard.

"_Please _do not break anything this time."

Rouge looks offended, brushing a stray strand of her red hair behind her ear.

"Ah.. in my defence, that was my favourite ship."

Ikora hums in response and folds one hand over her other.

"I'm sure Ada would like to know what you did to her beloved Lone Wolf.."

"Sorrydidntcatchthatgottakillvexbye!"

Rouge slowly fades from view, her ship the Platinum Starling passing by overhead. Ikora chuckles and shakes her head.

"Hunters.."

Ikora could almost hear a familiar voice and a sad smile graces her features.

_"You know? I take that as a compliment, Ikora."_

Ikora snorts, going back to her paperwork.

"I'm sure you would, Cayde.."

—_Line Break!—_

"You think the Drifter eats his cereal with Vex Milk?"

An explosion goes off a distance away, Rouge humming as she draws another arrow in her bow. Enya's voice comes over the radio due to the constant gunfire. The Hunter stands on the steps, five other guardians running around and destroying anything that moves with ease. Her bow is intricate, acquired through many hours of grinding and killing.

_(Subtle Calamity, with the Veist Poison Shader.)_

Rouge, however, happily watching the guardians destroy things.

"Shouldn't you be asking _him_ that?"

Another arrow is let loose, destroying the pretty purple shield on a Vex Minotaur. The resulting explosion taking out a few surrounding Vex and leaving the rest for the other Guardians to mop up.

"Why are you holding back, Guardian?"

Rouge shrugs and swaps weapons in a flash. She guns down a few Goblins with her Last Words fan fire. She ignores the Titan making fun of her for using a Crucible weapon in a non-crucible area. Stupid Titan.

"These guys are probably working on their Undying title, and I already did the objectives for here."

Enya gives an understanding hum as the shattering of crystals fills the air. Rouge slowly makes her way up the steps, Last Word finding her holster again.

"Come onnnn, give me something good this time chest.."

She says to herself, bouncing on her heels as the encounter finishes. The chest slowly appears and opens.

"Aaaaand! Hm. Another Imperative. _Yay._"

She looks it over and sighs.

"Well.. it looks like it would fair well in the Crucible. Explosive Rounds and No Distractions."

Rouge nods and jumps up to the next objective alongside her fellow Guardians.

"Yeah. Except I _hate _the Crucible, Enya. I despise it. I'm never going back in."

Distantly, the same Titan from earlier gasps in horror. Like someone insulted his mother.

"You say that, until the next shiny weapon has the Crucible as a requirement for calibration."

Rouge pouts as the Vex start to teleport in and more gunfire fills the air. Rouge crouches on top of one of the tallest column formations, carefully taking shots at the Vex.

"Hey. I got Ace, Last Word, Recluse, Revoker. I don't need anything else."

Rouge spots a Dark Black coloured Vex Minotaur, drawing her bow full draw. She takes a breath and lets the arrow loose. It embeds itself into the large Minotaurs forehead causing it to stagger back a few steps with its systems overloaded.

"Ugh. I hate those guys."

The staggered Vex is quickly disposed of by three other Guardians trying to use their finisher on it.

"Hm. Swap out Last Word for Living Memory, and Hammerhead for Anarchy. I'll swap to my helmet with the right ammo finder after. I think we'll need it for the Undying Mind."

The gun on her hip is quickly replaced by a completely different model. It's rather simple in its design, looking like just another hand cannon. It's paint is well worn though, the symbol of the Vanguard almost entirely scratched off and replaced with a combination of red with gold accents.

Rouge slings her bow on her back and draws her trusty Living Memory, feeling it's familiar and comfortable grip in her hand. She thumbs over the kill tracker- the number reading 17,945.

In a flash it fires with Rouges golden eyes flashing with a faint flame.

17,946.

She slides over a shiny purple brick- it quickly turning into Heavy Ammo for her grenade launcher, Anarchy. Very Aptly named..

A few more shots ring out, a Vex Fanatic being the recipient of the Gunslingers rounds. It explodes from the damage and causes a chain reaction taking a group of fanatics alongside it.

"I swear, these guys are stupid. 'Hey, lets transport all of our exploding units into a small area all at the same time. It's foolproof. It's not like we can't run trillions of simulations to figure out if it's a bad idea or not.'"

Rouge talks to herself sarcastically, missing the Vex Minotaur behind her. It promptly smacks the living daylights out of her. It sends her flying at unimaginably high speeds, the Hunter hardly able to let out a squeak as she slams into a wall.

Dying instantly.

The other Guardians don't even blink.

...Or try to revive her. Jerks.

After around six seconds she pops back into existence with a deep scowl. Her Ghost tries her best to hold her laughter.

"Stupid fucking Architects and stupid fucking bullshit Minotaur.."

She grumbles. Rouge stomps up to the chest, immediately yeeting the horribly rolled Optative off the nearest cliff. And silently wondering if she should join it.

"Cheer up, Guardian! All that's left is the Undying Mind."

Her Hunter hums in acknowledgment as she makes the journey up to where the Vex Portal resides.

"Mhm. And then we do it again. And again. And again, and again, and again, and again, and a-"

"Guardian! I get it. We have to kill it a lot."

Rouge only grumbles in answer as she places a Raid Banner. With it floating in mid air, naturally. The other guardians dance and interact, one even playing Russian Roulette with their shotgun.

It was the Titan. I'm shocked, I tell you! Shocked! Well, not that shocked.

His fellow Titan was trying to get him to stop. She looked very, very, 100% done with his crap. Poor girl.

Finally after what seemed like five minutes the portal finally whirred to life.

"Hey, Enya? Why don't we just.. you know. Destroy the portal?"

Rouge could almost feel the sigh that came from her Ghost.

"Because if left unchecked, the Undying Mind would revive the Black Heart."

Her Guardian nods in understanding, still wishing she could destroy it. Would that destroy space and time too? Maybe she should find out..

"No, she shouldn't."

"I said that out loud, didn't I?"

If her Ghost could facepalm, I'm sure it just would have.

"Yes. Yes you did. Do _not _destroy the portal. Ikora literally told you less than an hour ago not to destroy it."

Rouge pouts like always. The portal still warms up. The Male Titan headbutts the wall in boredom.

"It usually doesn't take this long.."

For once, Rouge's Ghost is in agreement with her. It didn't last long.

"I'm gonna touch it."

"Do _not_ touch the foreign portal with possible time bending properties. Remember what happened to Cayde?"

Her Guardian doesn't listen, already hopping the short distance between the platform and the portal. It's whirring is much louder up close but at the same time a gentle hum.

"Guardian.. this is a bad Idea.."

Rouge pouts and hops onto the frame of the portal.

"You say that to all my ideas."

"So does Lexi. A _Titan _thinks your plans are insane!"

She just pouts more, drawing her grenade launcher, Anarchy. She aims and fires at the top of the portal and then the sides, and finally the bottom.

And plants one right on her chest.

"G-Guardian.. What are you..?"

Rouge slings Anarchy on her back and stretches her legs.

"Experimenting!"

She does her double jumps until she's in the Center of the portal. Arc Energy shoots off of the planted Anarchy Grenades, acting as electric pylons. Rouge however gets frozen in air unable to move. The other Guardians pay no mind, punching each other in the face.

"Guardian! What's happening!"

"Hnnn! Uhnnn!"

Rouge struggles against the Arc Energy binding her, while at the same time fuelling the portal. The pitch of its hum climbs and climbs as more power is pushed through it. Her Ghost frantically hovers around, scanning and doing all she can to help.

The portals energy finally hits its apex. The high pitched whine is almost unbearable, but thankfully it's soon cut off.

The momentary silence though is soon replaced with a deafening explosion, ripping up grass and metal along its blast wave. Two Guardians are caught in Shrapnel, dead before they hit the ground. One of the Titans quickly place down their bubble to save the rest from the same fate.

Quickly though the Garden is silent again, the two fallen Guardians appearing back after their resurrection. The five stand in a circle and look curiously at the wreckage..

It's forgotten quickly though as the final chest spawns in and with it, the loot. A few take their leave but the remaining two notice.

A name missing from their final Roster.

The two swore they could hear a very, _very_ angry Warlock headed their way..

—_Line Break!—_

Ikora stands alongside Zavala next to the charred remains of a Vex Gate, tapping her foot. Her arms cross over her chest as she converses with an old friend.

"What do you mean, _shut down,_ Eris_?_"

Ikora asks sharply. Zavala kneels, inspecting the charred crater. Eris Morn responds over the communicator.

_"Exactly as I said, Ikora. Every active unit on the Moon went dead. Hunched over. As if.. sleeping."_

Ikora's brow furrows in thought as she glances at her partner, Titan Vanguard Commander Zavala.

"Could this mean..?"

His deep voice is quiet, just above a whisper. Ikora answers with a shake of her head.

"We can't be sure. Not with certainty."

Zavala rises again and nods with a deep sigh escaping him.

"And what of Rouge? Has she simply.. vanished?"

The Commander inquires, his glowing blue eyes scanning the center of the explosion.

"It seems so. Alongside the Undying Mind. Far enough that no signals can reach her."

He gently rubs his forehead and shakes his head.

"She takes too much after Cayde.. but perhaps that will aide her. Wherever she may be. I have faith."

Ikora kicks a piece of metal into the fresh crater and winces a little as her Ghost heals her toes.

"Even if by accident. I highly doubt she has done this on purpose."

Zavala holds back a chuckle, but allows a smile to grace his face.

"As I said. Much like Cayde."

—_End of Chapter One_—

_So! My first story! I'm still figuring things out, like I feel I'm much too.. broad in my descriptions of things, and I just kind of assume that everyone has the same mental picture as me. And I'm doing this on my **phone**, so the formatting may be rather screwy. I'm getting a new Computer Monitor today so I may be able to fix that though. But that's what this is for! To improve upon that. Anyways. If you liked it, let me know! Or if you have any ideas you'd like to share I'm all ears. I'm not exactly entirely sure what I want to do, honestly. _

_P.S: I don't hate Titans. Promise. XP And! Next chapter will probably be Equipment and description listing. The Collections/Vault will be unaccessible on Remnant, so Rouge will just have to make do. _


	2. One Small Step

Hello Again! I'm back, with another chapter. This one will be a bit shorter content wise than the first, since I agreed with one of the reviews that said it'd suck to be expecting a new chapter and get just a bunch of gun stuff, _but _I also wanted to end it in a specific place so I could ask you guys a question as well as think on where exactly and how exactly I want the story to go. So I'm gonna list _all _her equipment here, and in the future if I haven't used something in a while I'll list it in the End of the chapter. _(Thank you, ecoolasice and CheesusChrist (love that name) Just had to think of it like I was a reader, as well, and that would be a little disappointing seeing an update and it's just a bunch of gun stuff.)_

_Reviews! _

MidKnightMoon: I actually had some sort of spacing/barrier between the end and the Authors note, but it didn't make it through the actually publishing for some reason. I've updated it now though to the same as I use for the line breaks, and I believe it'll be what I use from now on. And I agree _Rouge_ is a little Overused, but it _has_ been my guardians name since D1, and it lines up with RWBY's colour naming. _(That and I'm bad at naming things..) _

Diluation: I actually forgot about _Remnant of a Rose _until you reminded me. XP But I see what you mean, but no sadly. Ro is _not _Pyrrha. Rouge sounds familiar to Pyrrha because I adapted my hunter into a RWBY character by the same name. Her mom? _Yep. It was Pyrrha. _XP It wasn't a Arkos baby though. More of a.. CinderxPyrrha baby, which is why she has the Black strands in her hair. Now _that's_ a long story.. maybe I'll write it all down one day.

And about the Black Garden, the Garden itself is on Mars, true. But the newest Entrance has been found on the moon from Vex Offensive/Shadowkeep. _(That and when I do bounties it counts as me being on the moon..@_@) _but anyways, the Vex from the Garden are invading the moon and are being led/commanded by the Undying Mind. I kinda figured it'd be like tugging the CPU out of a computer- everything else short circuits. And I legitimately use Last Word in PvE. I have.. 18,093 kills with it as of writing this, only surpassed by Living Memory with 23,578 kills. It's not the _greatest,_ but gods is it fun to use. That and it fits the whole Gunslinger kit.

Now! Onto Equipment!

_Class:_

_I'm going with the 'Guardians can only learn one element fully', mainly because having all Subclasses just.. sounds rather overpowered in the World of Remnant? Admittedly Golden Gun is powerful in it's own right, but I'll think of a way to balance that out. Maybe with as much Aura as Jaune has it takes two shots to drain his aura? I dunno, I'll come up with something._

_**Way of the Gunslinger- **A six shot Golden Gun that refunds a bullet after every kill. _

_Grenade Ability: Incendary Grenade. Simple, Standard Grenade. You throw, it goes boom shortly after. Also causes burn._

_Melee Ability: Explosive Proximity Knife. Sticks to anything and explodes, either immediately on enemies or after being triggered by enemy proximity._

_Dodge Ability: Gamblers Dodge. Recharges Melee Abilities when used close to an enemy. _

_Kinetic Weapons:_

_**Living Memory**\- Y1 Handcannon, Reloads Magazine on Melee Kills. Shader: New Monarchy Regalia._

_**The Revoker-** Crucible Pinnacle Sniper Rifle. Refunds Missed Shots. Shader: New Monarchy Regalia._

_**The Last Word- **Exotic Handcannon. Better Accuracy and Faster Reload on Succusive Hip Fire Damage. No Ornament/Shader._

_**Pillager- **Submachine Gun. Outlaw (faster reload on headshots) and Rampage (kills increase damage for a short time. Stacks 3 times.) Ornament: Salt the Fields. Shader: Precursor Vex Chrome._

_**Bad News XF4354-** Handcannon. Outlaw and Field Prep (increases reload speed while crouched and more ammo in reserves.) Shader: Bloody Tooth._

_**Ace of Spades- **Exotic Hand Cannon. Bonus Damage after reloading after a kill. Precision kills create small explosions and increase reload speed. Ornament: Last Hand. _

_Energy Weapons:_

_**The Vow- **Solar Lightweight/Recurve Combat Bow. Faster Draw Time after Precision Hits and Rapid Precision Hits increase stability and reload speed. Shader: Crimson Valor. _

_**Subtle Calamity- **VoidPrecision/Compound Combat Bow. Precision Kills create small explosions, and Precision Hits increase Draw Speed._

_**Kindled Orchid- **Void Handcannon. Rampage and Kill Clip (increases damage after reloading after a kill.) Shader: Midnight Smith. _

_**The Recluse- **God Slayer. Melts everything it sees. Used only in emergencies. Ornament: Itsy Bitsy Spider. Shader: New Monarchy Regalia. _

_**Fighting Lion- **Never Leaves Inventory. Exotic Breech Loaded Grenade Launcher. Can detonate when needed after a short arm time. Creates ammo for every kill. _

_**Sunshot- **Exotic Hand Cannon. Explosive Rounds highlight enemies, enemies killed by Sunshot explode with Solar Energy. Ornament: Red Dwarf._

_Heavy Weapons:_

_**Leviathan- **Massive Combat Bow. Fires a very heavy duty bolt that staggers enemies. When Fired while fully drawn, it creates a concussive field that knocks people back._

_**Stryker's Sure Hand- **Sword. Isn't also a gun. Gains Bonus Damage while surrounded. Shader: Midnight Smith. _

_**Hammerhead- **Heavy Machine Gun. Kills Increase Reload Speed, Rampage Increases Damage. Shader: Bergusian Night. _

_**Swarm of the Raven- **Aggresive Frame Grenade Launcher. Relic of a Meta. Spike Grenades (increased damage on direct hits), Field Prep. Shader: Bergusian Night._

_**Anarchy- **Grenade Launcher. Grenades Stick to Surfaces and chain lightning to other grenades in range. _

_**Worldline Zero- **Exotic Sword. Ability: Tesseract (attack after sprinting to teleport forwards and do an AOE attack.) _

**_Armour/Equipment:_**

_**Helmet- **Helm of the Great Hunt. Shader: New Monarchy Succession__. _

_**Gauntlets/Grips- **Vernal Growth Grips. Shader: Crimson Valor._

_**Chest- **The Took Offense. Ornament: On the Offense. Shader: New Monarchy Succesion._

_**Legs- **Lucky Pants. (Exotic) Perk: Precision Hits return bullets to the magazine of stowed hand cannons, and increases hand cannon draw speed. Ornament: Deep Pockets. Shader: Midnight Smith._

_**Cloak- **Memory of Cayde Cloak. Shader: Crucible Redjack. _

_**Ghost Shell- **Cosmos Shell. Shader: Vanguard Magnus Gloss. _

_**Sparrow- **Always On Time. Enemies are less aggressive when riding. Insta-Summon. Shader: Crimson Valor. _

_**Ship- **Not Available here since it was left back in the Sol system, but I'll list it anyway: The Platinum Starling. Shader: Bloody Tooth. _

_One Last Note on the Weapons:_

_Swords won't have ammo, mainly cause.. it's a sword. And I think the main reason they have ammo in game is for balancing purposes. _

**_———————_**

_Now! On to the Chapter! I'm actually going to try and do this one in First Person this time instead, as I'm not the greatest at it and kind of want to get better at it. You guys can tell me which you prefer! _

_——Chapter Two: One Small Step——_

_Tink. Tink. Tink._

"Guardian! Wake up! Sleep later! We have a problem."

I mumble softly at the tiny metallic clinking noise against my helmet, opting to not do what the voice says.

"There is _always_ a problem. And it'll always be there when I wake up.."

I roll over and cuddle back into my nice, rocky and dusty bed. Can't someone else do it for a change?

"You're running out of oxygen."

The angry voice deadpans. I slowly open my eyes and immediately notice the heads up display of my helmet, and that my bed is usually not this hard. Another soft clink echoes in my helmet as my beloved ghost rams itself into my helmet again.

"Ugh, will you stop that? It's annoying.."

My hands dig lightly into the dirt below me as I rise up and take in my surroundings. The first thing I note, is..

Grey. Lots and lots of grey. My eyes wander a little further upwards, spying more of the grey rocks floating off in the distance in space.

"You've been out of it for a few hours. I've tried raising the Vanguard, but we're out of range."

A yawn escapes me as I stand and dust myself off, sparing a glance at Earth in the distance.

"Out of range? We're on the moon. Just radio Eris. Or like, any other Guardian on the moon."

Enya rolls her eye.. display, camera thing at me and lets out a sigh.

"Yes, wonderful and wise advice Guardian. What would I do without you."

I shrug and check my weapons, _Living Memory_ earning quite a few more scratches from the explosion and emergency landing.

"Seriously, I have tried. Many times. All known channels are completely silent. So I decided to run a few scans, and compared to known scans before.. this is not Luna."

My ghost watches as I kick the ground, then do an experimental hop. I shrug afterwards.

"I dunno, Enya. It feels pretty Moon-y to me."

"It's not _our _moon. Look at the Earth."

I do so and look at the beaty that is Earth, only to find it is.. not quite right. The land masses are completely rearranged, with one of them shaped like a dragon.. Definitely have to visit that one.

"Oh. Well.. Shit."

"That's putting it lightly.. from what I can tell, there have been no humans on the surface of this moon. Ever. Luckily, no Hive or Taken either. Or Fallen. Although, there are some very faint traces of Energy similar to that which was on Luna, but it not quite.. right. It is very very old, though."

My butt quickly finds it's way back to the ground as I sit, eyes gazing over the new planet before me.

"So what you're saying is we've been shoved through space to this place, and I'm now stranded on a moon with no way off?"

My ghost hovers in front of me for a moment, it's shell twirling in thought.

"That depends on how high you can jump.."

I roll my eyes but smile knowing that my ghost can't see it under my helmet. Sometimes I wish my personality didn't rub off on her..

"Very funny, Enya. Any ideas?"

"Aren't you usually the one that comes up with the ridiculous plans?"

"Yeah well I've never needed to fly from one planet to another without my ship before.."

Enya hums for a moment before my sparrow appears before me, hovering just off the ground.

"At least we have this?"

I stare at it for a few moments in thought, slowly nodding.

"You're right. This gives me an idea!"

——_Line Break!——_

**_Atlas Academy Observatory, 6 Hours Later._**

A new group of students is herded around by a dark haired woman, her attire formal and militaristic. She has a few medals pinned to her chest, and pins on her shoulders depicting her rank. Her skirt goes down to her knees and just below, rather needed for a school full of teenagers..

"And this is Atlas' very own Observatory. While we cannot venture beyond our own atmosphere, it does not stop our scientists from gazing to the stars, learning all that they may provide answers to. I've kindly asked them to train it's focus today on our wonderful moon, as it is my personal favourite sight."

She motions to the viewing glass, the students quickly gathering around it. The teacher smiles very slightly at the sight, overjoyed at the children so filled with energy and want to learn new thi-

"Professor Diana! There's a smiley face on the moon!"

-ngs and experience new... Wait, what?

"What?!"

——_Line Break_!——

"Great. We're stranded on a moon in unknown territory and the first thing you do is _vandalise_ it."

I dust my hands off and admire my handywork, a very large smiley face carved into one of the craters of the moon. Strykers' Sure Hand rests on my back with Last Word in my holster.

"And you have about ten minutes of oxygen left. Then, you'll start to die of suffocation."

I wave my hand dismissively and start my climb out of the crater. It was totally worth it.

"It was totally worth it. Besides, you can just bring me back."

Enya sighs and headbutts my helmet in frustration.

"But then you'll die again, and again and again. You'll keep suffocating to death until we get to the Atmosphere."

I sigh softly. Now knowing that..

Still pretty worth it.

"I'll figure something out, I'm sure. Actually.. you remember all those video's of those Guardians jumping the Hellmouth?"

Enya nods slowly.

"I have my sparrow, I can just do that."

Enya's display blinks once.

"Seriously? You're going to Sparrow Fly to Earth?"

I shrug. It sounded better in my head..

"I mean, as long as I can escape the gravitational pull of the moon then I can get to Earth or.. whatever that planet is easily."

Enya blinks again and sighs.

"You'll burn up on re-entry."

A gentle hum escapes me as I think. She's right. Unless..

"I set myself on fire first!"

Enya's display blinks a third time.

"I'm asking the traveller for a new guardian when we get back."

Ouch.. Betrayed by my own light.

"Hey. First of all, Rude. Second of all, what about those video's of that one hunter flying at super high speeds and shooting dudes with his Golden Gun? Baking Joestar?"

"Pretty sure it was Baken, but yes. I know of them."

"I can do that, but yeet myself towards Earth instead! We did bring Worldine, right?"

My ghost nods, weapons swapping out a moment later. I draw the nice but rather weird looking sword, and at the same time, my saviour. It's blade arcs with electricity, the alien design being a surprisingly nice fit for my hands. What this thing was doing locked up by the Warmind I have no idea..

"Sweet. Now all I need is a running start, then teleport, and activate Golden Gun, and-"

"You'll become a human meteor. Good idea."

"Hey, it's not my fault the Architects let weird stuff like this happen. Blame them. Now.."

I take in a deep breath, channeling the technique used by guardians for.. a year or two now. I think. Typically it's reserved for Warlocks due to the weird synergy between their jumps and the sword, but for now I need to.. borrow it.

"Alright. I hope this works.."

I slide back down into the rocky crater a bit, giving me a good angle towards the planet. My breathing picks up a little from being a little nervous. Hey, tell me you wouldn't be.. never thought planet hopping would be so literal.

"Three.. Two.. One!"

I take off sprinting full speed, Tesseracts ability activating a few moments later. I run faster up the rocky face until I'm at it's peak and teleport. Milliseconds after exiting the teleport I activate my Golden Gun, the momentum flinging me at monumental speeds up into space. Faster than one person alone should be able to achieve, unless given a boost by a willing Phalanx..

"Guardian! You're at three minutes of oxygen and you're losing both momentum and speed!"

My ghosts voice calls from inside my helmet. Alright.. guess I need more firepower. I channel more light and the suns energy into my Golden Gun, the overclocked shots digging into the moons surface and creating more craters. The kickback sends me into space higher and higher with two shots following after the first three. I save the last, knowing if I use it I'll no longer be on fire.

"And.. you did it. Barely.. Congratulations, Guardian. you're now free floating in space and hurtling towards the planet. That moons gravity is much weaker than ours thank the Traveller.. perhaps due to most of its mass being blown away. I wonder what did that..."

I look at the moon I've just departed from, ignoring the one and a half minute reminder from Enya. Almost half of it is destroyed, bits floating in space around it.

"When you die, Guardian, I'll wait until you hit land to Ressurect you. Or if something comes up. I'd rather not put you through the psychological torture of suffocating to death over and over.. and then being burned to death. And then be-"

"Okay! Okay! I get it. Thank you, Enya. And trust me, I don't feel like suffocating to death either."

Yeah, sign me out on that.

"What are you-"

My beloved Ghost is cut off, by the sound of my Living Memory going off and a bullet tearing through my skull.

As a wise man once said...

_"Suicide is Badass!"_

——_Line Break_!——

_Clink. Clink. Clink._

Once again that cursed tinking sound haunts my dreams..

"Get!" _Tink._

"Up!" _Tink!_

"Rouge!" _Tink!_

I groan and sit up, My head pounding as I do. I have a killer headache..

"I have movement on our sensors, Rouge. We're not alone."

Can't I ever just sleep for like.. ten minutes?

"No! Shoot first, sleep later!"

"Oh. I said that out loud?"

"No, but I know what you were thinking! Come on, eyes up. They're getting closer."

Ah, great. The pronoun game. This is the part where I ask 'Who's they?' Buy I'm not. I'm just gonna go with it.

I get up and take in my sights once again, noting I'm in a small crater made from my journey. I hop up and out with my double jump and stand on the edge. In front of me lies a seemingly normal forest, complete with birds and rabbits and pitch black nightmare wolves with wicked bone spikes coming from it's fur.

...Wait a second.

I duck swipe of claws from said Nightmare Wolf and backflip out of it's reach, quickly raising Living Memory. I pull the trigger twice only to get a clicking sound in return. I look at the cylinder, the lights on it flashing red. It immediately brings a scowl to my face. It must've broken on re-entry..

"You've gotta be kidding me.." I mumble as I sidestep another lunge from the wolf, drawing Worldine instead. Luckily swords don't break as easy.

The beast roars at me as I watch it, it's bright red eyes boring into my soul. I hate it. It's super unsettling.

**_"Groaaaahhhhhh!"_**

...I think it heard that. Does it have telepathy? Cool. But also bad.

I dodge towards the wolf this time and immediately slice upwards through it, cutting it in half cleanly. It slowly turns to smoke as I watch, Enya coming out to do a quick scan.

"Hm. Darkness.. different from both our Moon and what was on this moon. Very similar to the traces found on _this_ moon, though."

I sigh and place Worldine Zero back on my back.

"Wolves are pack animals. Swap out Worldline for Strykers and Living Memory for Last Word. I'll fix it once I have a camp set up. Or try to, at least.."

Soon after I feel the change in weight and weapons, another bestial howl echoing through the forest. My helmet unseals and I slip it off, it dematerialising a few seconds later as I let down my hair. I draw Subtle Calamity this time and start to make my way through the forest.

"Well.. at least this is familiar. If I concentrate hard enough I can almost imagine I'm back in the EDZ.."

I let out a sigh as I hear a deafening roar in the distance.

"Almost.."

——_End Chapter Two: One Small Step——_

_So! Finally made it to Remnant. Had her first encounter with a Beowulf. Cheated the Architects, Commited Suicide, all within a few hours! Can't wait to see what else is in store.. which brings me to my question! Which time frame are you interested in seeing Rouge find herself into? Pre-Vol 1 RWBY? STRQ Era Remnant? Or even Post Vol. 3 RWBY? Or even Vol. 7? I dunno. I mean I **do **want Rouge involved in the main storyline, obviously. I'll think about it, and see what you guys think, then come up with something. Well. Until next time! •_


	3. Like Moths To A Flame

Hello Again! :D

After thinking and reading your reviews and writing a few possible outlines I've _finally _decided which direction I'm going in. This chapter is a _fair _bit longer _(longer than the first two chapters combined, not counting the equipment/authors notes!) _Which is amazing! I've always wanted to do longer chapters over the shorter ones, so I'm glad I'm kinda working towards that. It was awkward trying to find an ending for it this time though, but I think I managed it well. Can't wait for the next one. :3

_Reviews!_

ecoolasice: I see it as the In-Game mechanics and such _is _The Guardians reality. Like all of our interactions, actions, even grinding for things is within the Lore (_specifically Season of Opulence, with Calus or one of his Psions saying Guardians will do almost anything as long as loot is involved.)_ So I plan to use just about all of that in the story. XP _(Next chapter, we Yeet the Leviathan Grimm with the Finisher Glitch. (Not really, but tempting))_

Guest: _"Will the Last City or the Vanguard find their way to Remnant?"- _As of right now, _no. _While it can change in the future, I honestly had no plans of bringing any other Guardians/Destiny Characters to Remnant. Rouge is, quite honestly, Stranded on Remnant by herself.

CheesusChrist: Nope! Not kidding. Rouge Fotià Fall was_(is?) _her full name. She married Neo's clone/daughter, and had a pair of Twins! But my Cinder had a full redemption arc and a time travelling, universe hopping Pyrrha. I'm telling you, it's an entire Fanfic in itself. XP It was an RP, though. And quite honestly the most fun I ever had writing.

And I honestly agree with the 'Shipped to Beacon' thing. Like, almost every fic has it in some way or another. And in this context Ozpin would be a fool for putting a God Slaying, Undying Soldier in a freaking _classroom. _But I'm also sad because I absolutely _love _Ozpin. Half because I love Shannon McCormicks voice.

———_Chapter Three: Like Moths to a Flame———_

"So. Assuming that this is an almost exact copy of earth, with a twenty-four hour day, and the Sun rising in the east setting in the west.."

I hum as I draw in the dirt with one of my knives, making a crude map of the planet from memory.

"You kept track of where I landed, right?"

Enya tips side to side as she hovers on the other side of my map.

"More or less. It's hard to keep track of location when you're travelling at terminal velocity. You landed on the one below the Dragon continent, a few hundred kilometres east of the deserts. And a few dozen kilometres south of the sea separating you from the Dragon."

My knife carves out a little X about where I believe I'm at before I sheathe it again.

"So, head north to the coast? If anyone is living on this planet that's probably where they're gonna be."

My ghost gives a quick nod and then fades from view, going back into my backpack. Or wherever she hides..

"But what if North _isn't _north?"

Her voice speaks in my head. Still unsure how Ghosts do that.. or how they do _most _things honestly.. maybe I should've listened to the Warlocks.

"Well then I think the simpler way. I remember which way the moon was when I looked back at it. The broken side was left as I stood on it, towards the deserts. So that would be west."

I look up at the shattered moon in the sky. I wonder if ours would do the same, given time..

"So that means the Dragon is to my back right now. Which makes that, north."

Enya hums in agreement.

"You're right. Well.. start walking. I'll run through any records I can to see if any match our current location. Maybe we'll get lucky."

I laugh softly as I walk, drawing my bow, _Subtle Calamity_. I glance around the forests and admire the greenery. The trees look about the same as the ones back home; your typical pines and oaks. The animals are the same too, spotting quite a few bunnies and a couple of deer. This certainly isn't weird..

"Enya, you sure that we didn't get thrown through time? Cause this is a _lot _like earth.. maybe we got thrown a billion years into the future."

It takes a second for her to respond, clearly more focused on scanning things. Like always.

"Trust me, it was my first thought when we landed on that moon. And now _here. _Both show similar traits to earth, but also different elements are in the air and soil. Some of it seems like a sort of _propellant_, like Gunpowder. But just like earth, this planet is _infested _with creatures of darkness. I'd say even _more _than earth is."

Well that's a lot to take in.. past the same 'stranded on an unknown planet' thing.

"If we're so far from the Traveller, then how come you can still revive me?"

I ask Enya. I run my hand along the bark of one of the trees. Doesn't feel like a dream..

"Not _all _light comes from the Traveller. And surprisingly, this planet has quite a lot of light.."

That's certainly helpful.. I'm not too keen on the thought of Perma-Dying, honestly. I quite like living.

After a few more minutes of silent walking I stop dead in my tracks.

"Wait, why am I walking?! I have my sparrow!"

I groan as Enya materialises my sparrow in front of me. As well as laughing 'silently' at me.

"I _was_ wondering when you'd ask. I figured you were just being dramatic again."

A sigh escapes my lips and I mount my sparrow. It whirs to life, the familiar hum of the engine comforting.

"It would have totally made for an awesome movie shot, though.."

"Only if we were in an actual movie, instead of stuck on a random planet."

Trees fly past me as I floor it, the sparrows engine on full blast as I dodge and weave through the trees. I smile with my hair flowing in the wind. I'll never tire of this feeling.

"Hold on.. I'm getting something on my sensors. A much higher concentration of those wolves. I'll mark it on your HUD."

I bring the sparrow to a stop, looking at the new marker.

"You want me to go _towards _them?"

I ask incredulously. Shouldn't we, you know, not do that?

"The way they're concentrated is less Pack like and more.. purposeful. Like they're after something. Or guarding something."

I sigh. That's a roundabout way of saying 'There could be loot'..

"Ugh, fine. Revoker, Sunshot, Swarm. I wanna be ready for anything."

I feel the weight change on my person, the familiar feel of my Sniper Rifle on my back alongside my Grenade Launcher. Sunshot rests in my holster emitting a gentle hum.

I turn towards the west and speed off once again.

———_Line Break!———_

People may be wondering 'Why do you use a Crucible Sniper out in the wilds like this?' While true it was intended to kill Guardians _(not permanently. That's a big no-no) _That just makes it even better, because it hits like a freaking _truck_. That, and at ranges like this..

"How far is it?"

Enya's shell spins as she runs the numbers.

"The Center of the village is five hundred meters. The closest edge is three hundred, the far edge is seven hundred."

..It's good to have a backup. Even the best shots miss from time to time.

"Well at least we know that there's some form of intelligent life on the planet.."

My gaze travels along the destroyed settlement. The wolf-like creatures wander aimlessly around and pick at the remains of the buildings.

"Unless an extinction level event wiped everything but animals and darkness off the face of the planet recently."

I glance at my ghost, shooting her a blank look.

"You know for a little light you are very pessimistic sometimes."

She lets out a mirthful laugh and spins her shell again.

"Hm. Hey, Enya. You see that?"

She flies a little closer to my head and looks where I am, then turns to me.

"Rouge. 'That' is very vague. There is approximately two kilometres of trees and a single village I can see."

I roll my eyes and look back down at my scope.

"Wolf, about ten metres from the east wall. A little bigger than the others, more spiky stuff on its body."

It looks pretty rad, putting aside the fact it probably wishes it could roast my intestines. The whole Red, Black, and White bone colour scheme fits really well.

"Maybe the leader? Alpha of the pack. How far do you think that is?"

I ask my ghost, already setting my range on my scope.

"I think it's about-"

_Boom!_

"Four hundred and thirty seven metres. Why did you even ask?"

I watch as the high calibre round tears through the Alpha Wolfs skull. It turns to ash after, or smoke, or.. whatever it is. At least they're easy to clean up.

"Eh, I figured I was close enough. That and luckily the winds pretty low today."

She sighs and bonks against the side of my head angrily.

"I hate you sometimes."

"Love you too, Little Light. And all that did was piss the rest of them off.. they're headed up to us. Wait, is that a freaking bear?!"

In the midst of the pack of nightmare wolves now runs a massive nightmare bear. A nightbear? It's twice as big as the wolves, and twice as angry. Still pretty cool looking.. I wonder if that's a Bad Guy requirement..

"Hm. I guess they have different tiers as well. The wolves being the lowest tier, then the Alpha's, then the Bears? Or is it bear then Alpha?"

I stand from my perch on the side of my happy hill. I stay sighted in and wait until the bear gets to about one hundred fifty metres, then fire Revoker again. The round tears through the nightbears skull and sends it tumbling, sending the lines of wolves into disarray. I then sling Revoker on my back and draw Sunshot in a flash.

"Let's hope these guys are as squishy as thralls.."

Two rounds quickly find their way into the ranks of wolves and it explodes into ash, taking the ones around it with it. _Those _then explode too, thanks to Sunshots _Sun Blast _perk. The chain reaction carves through the ranks of wolves taking out around twenty. The rest all stop, seemingly distracted for a second.

They all turn their heads to my right, towards the.. North-East.

"Bad News, Lion, Stryker."

I say under my breath to Enya. She swaps them out after a few seconds due to the stupid load times. I draw Fighting Lion in my right hand and Bad News in my left, the nightmares looking back towards me after another moment. The Alpha roars loud..

Only to receive a package straight to the jaw: a freshly minted grenade. I release the trigger on Fighting Lion and sling it on my back, Bad News raised in an instant to take out a wolf pouncing from my left. One on my right quickly finds a throwing knife embedded in it's face not causing it to so much as flinch.

It definitely reels back once the knife explodes it's skull, though. I hear the click letting me know that Fighting Lion is reloaded due to my kills, once again drawing it. My next grenade flies between the legs of another charging wolf to kill three of it's buddies, another round from Bad News finding it's way through the skull of the wolf that charged me.

"They seem to have to qualms about throwing their lives away. Their only intent is to kill."

I hum at the _surprising _revelation of my ghost and swap my right handed weapon for my sword, Strykers' Sure Hand. Only six wolves remain, charging fast. The first pounces me like the other had before and I scoff, thrusting my sword through it's shoulder and firing twice into it's chest with Bad News.

"How many's that? Four out of eight?"

"Not bad. Usually you miss half your shots."

I roll my eyes and slice another wolf in half at the waist, firing into it's head just to be sure it's dead. You never know.

"No wonder Shaxx doesn't let people dual wield in the Crucible, this is freaking _amazing!_"

I duck under a set of claws aimed at my face, cutting the offending arm off. No one touches my pretty face. Or tries to cut these golden eyes out. Asshole.

I spin through his 'guard', if you can even call it that, and step behind him. My revolver finds the back of it's skull, another kill being added to my list. I throw my grenade at the last four, shooting at it to detonate it early. The first and second shots miss, but luckily the last detonates it and kills them all. I watch as their remains slowly turn to smoke leaving nothing behind. Except those killed by my Fighting Lion..

I kneel down and scoop the few small items up, casting a curious gaze upon them.

"Enya. These aren't bullets. Or glimmer. I think Lions broken."

My ghost materialises in front of me once again, scanning the few multicoloured crystals in my hand.

"Hm. Remember the reactant I told you about in the air in minuscule amounts?"

"Yeah. Still unsure if it's safe to be breathing that.."

Enya's shell twists and spins, scanning over me this time.

"No adverse affects yet, and our connection is still as strong as ever. I'll keep an eye on it though. Now.. back to the crystals. They're the source of it, apparently. That red one is the most reactive.. I'd be careful with it. The yellow one is.. very similar to Arc. The blue one.. it's less reactant than the rest as it's particles aren't moving as quickly as the others."

"So you're saying it's cold?"

She sighs very deeply.

"..Yes. It has chilling properties, most likely. I'd keep them on you. The worst that could happen is I'd need to revive you, and we can study them later."

I nod and slip them in my pocket while at the same time heading towards the village.

"Swap me for Last Word, Recluse, and keep Stryker."

Enya obliges, returning to her hidey place. We reach the walls after a few minutes of walking and venture inside after a quick double jump over the wall. Last Word slowly pulls from my holster, my boot steps echoing on the stone through the abandoned village.

"Well, this isn't creepy as shit or anything.."

I mumble. I pass through the remnants of what looks to be a marketplace, ash and rotting wood littering the pathways. I reach down and pick up a particular object, looking it over.

"Huh. Iron blade. Rusted. Looks pre-Golden Age in design."

Enya emerges from the air again, scanning it over. Her shell spins as she thinks.

"Perhaps this was a Golden Age settled planet. It fell, the remaining humans eventually forgetting about the old wonders but found records of the old world. Built these after the old stories.."

My ghost rationalises. Always overthinking things..

"Or because intelligent life can realise the efficiency in a design like this. Cross guard, handle, blade. Simple and effective."

Her shell droops a little, the ghost equivalent of a pout.

"While I could definitely spend quite some time explaining that even on _earth_ there were differences in blades from Scimtars to Longswords, it's something we can worry about later. For now, look behind you."

I tilt my head but do as told, looking behind me. There's a building long abandoned and on the verge of collapse. Hanging on by a single chain is a sign..

"_'Bruno's Battle Bar'_. Plain English.. huh."

"Mhm. Clearly the people use English as their main language, just like earth. And don't get me started on the minuscule chance of another planet in another solar system developing the exact same language just by coincidence. They even used it as an _alliteration._"

I sigh and rub my head lightly. She has a point..

"Alright. So if it _is _a Golden Age colony, there would be traces of such on the moon. That and the fact that the Ark ships never made it out of the Sol system."

A little ash gets kicked up as I kick around some of the other weapons.

"That we know of."

I knew that was coming.. Sigh.

"Right. Still doesn't change things. Still stranded. And a little hungry.."

Enya turns and looks around a little at the destroyed village. I rest on one of the low walls, slipping Last Word back into my holster.

"I don't think this place has a Ramen shop."

I suddenly gasp. Oh. My. _God._

"What if this place doesn't have a ramen shop?!? Or chicken? Or Hamburgers? Nuh uh, we gotta get home. I'm yeeting myself back into space."

Enya rolls her eye at me, ramming herself into the side of my head.

"Stop being so dramatic, you'll live. And I'm sure you'll find a cow for a hamburger eventually. But you won't do it sitting here, you know."

A groan escapes me as I get up. I'm gonna be _so _mad if this place doesn't have a McCaydes. _(Yes, they renamed it in his honour. I think he'd be overjoyed to hear that.) _

"Finneee. It's a little late in the evening though. I think I'll find one of the.. not so destroyed houses and sit tight for the night. See if you can find any info on this place, would you? I'm gonna go hunt."

Enya nods and zooms off, scanning house to house.

"Swap me for Calamity?"

I ask over our link with my hand already halfway to drawing it. By the time my hand reaches my back, my bow is already lying in wait.

"Thanks, Enya."

I step outside the villages walls and gently run my hand along the old stone as I pass. I let out a soft sigh. Moss covers the cobblestone.. Clearly it's been abandoned for quite a while.

I journey further outside the walls and slow my walk, going into a low crouch. I stalk in the underbrush and find a rather good sized buck scratching his horns against the tree. Right now that much meat would probably just go to waste with nowhere to store it..

I decide to watch it for a few more minutes. Studying it.. it's the exact same as a deer from back home. On earth. A normal white tailed deer.. Not weird at all.

I make a wide circle around the village, acquiring a couple of rabbits to eat. _'Sorry little guys..' _I give them a quick apology then head back via one of the paths that lead from the village. A worn sign reads _'Vacuo' _and points down the path.

"Huh. Vacuo.. must be another settlement."

I file that away in the old brain box and head back. Enya's managed to start a small _(contained)_ fire in one of the fireplaces in a mostly intact house.

"You.. made a fire? How?"

Enya shakes side to side slowly.

"I can literally remake you after you've been atomised and you wonder how I started a fire?"

I pout a little and draw my knife to start skinning the poor bunnies. It's a fair question.. Ghosts don't really have offensive capabilities. That's what I'm for.

"That doesn't answer my question!"

"Fine. I just channeled solar energy into the paper I was using as a firestarter as if it was you, trying to use your super."

I hum softly, a little impressed.

"Huh. Good job."

I pat her shell softly like she's a kitten and she butts my hand in response.

"Don't do that."

"Why? It's cute!"

"..I hate you."

"I love you too, Little Light!"

I smile brightly and put a few pieces of rabbit onto a metal rod from the remains of the weapon stand. I slowly roast it, sitting next to the fireplace.

"So, find anything out about this place?"

Enya nods and zooms off. She zooms back a second later, pushing a roll of paper along the ground.

"A map. And this place has been abandoned for many years. Twenty, at the very least. One peculiar thing I noticed.."

I unroll the map on a nearby table, careful to keep the table from collapsing.

"No remains. Bones, blood. Nothing."

Enya nods in agreement.

"I've only found small traces, not enough to warrant a mass slaughter by any means. At least the people fled, and weren't murdered in their homes.."

I run my hand over the map softly and find our location.

"Buraitoudo.. is that.. _Japanese_?"

Enya scans it over and her shell spins as she processes it.

"Bright Woods. Buraitouddo.. First English, now Japanese? This world is certainly very strange."

My hand trails to the northeast slowly as I follow the path on the map, it leading to one of the biggest settlements marked on it. Vale.

"Hm. Vale is the closest, here." I tap it with two fingers. "On the coast like I thought. The other is Vacuo. Saw it on the sign out there. It's.."

My hand follows the path in the other direction and I sigh.

"Middle of the fucking desert. Sorry, but no thanks.. I had enough desert that time we Emergency Landed around Egypt."

Enya blinks a few times after checking on my rabbit. She turns it so it cooks evenly.

"Rouge. That was a crash landing. After you felt you just _had _to race Lexi and Summer around the world."

I scoff and roll my eyes as I roll the map up.

"Hey! You know the rules! A Titan challenges a hunter, we _have _to prove our superiority."

"You challenged her. You were drunk."

She rolls her eye as I wave a hand dismissively.

"Eh, semantics. It was awesome. I won."

"You both overheated your engines and crash landed. _Summer _won."

"And it was a Hunter victory! Cause we're the greatest."

Enya really wishes she could facepalm right now. Alas, that requires hands.. Guardian 1, Ghost 0.

I sit on the stone floor and munch on my rabbit, watching the sun set behind the walls of the town. I sigh softly as I do.

"What do you think they're up to?"

Enya lets out a soft hum as she comes to rest on top of a pile of old cloth she'd pushed into the main room.

"Probably dismantling the Black Garden itself and interrogating every Vex in hopes of finding your location."

I laugh gently and shake my head. Sounds like them..

"I'm just glad I'm here to escape Ikora's wrath."

My ghosts shell spins and gently comes to a rest again, looking up at me.

"You _really _think that's going to stop her?"

I shiver. Knowing Ikora, probably not.. that woman is terrifying when she wants to be. Freaking Warlocks, man..

I finish my cooked rabbit dinner and stand up, stepping back deeper into the old house. My cloak falls from my shoulders as I unclasp it and rest it on the worn table. I've had enough incidents sleeping with it on.. choking to death is not a fun way to wake up.

I let out another sigh and head into the other room, climbing on one of the old mattresses. Not the comfiest but.. I've slept in worse places.

"Goodnight, Enya. Wake me if you get anything on the perimeter."

"Goodnight, Rouge."

———_Line Break!———_

_I stand with Last Word drawn. Battered. Beaten. Two rounds left.._

_Summer. My fellow hunter, lies on the ground in front of me. Looking up at me. Eyes blank and lifeless._

_To my left lays another guardian. Ghost shattered to pieces around her. The last of her light used to create a barricade fading slowly to nothing. Lexi.._

_Further ahead stands another figure. Humanoid, but made from darkness. Hair in a ponytail. Eyes seeming to suck in the light around them. I struggle to my feet again._

_"Why won't you just die already! Your friends, your ghost, the Last City burns around you. And you still fight. Why?!" _

_My laugh slowly turns into a wracking cough at her words. I spit blood at her feet and she tightens her grip on her weapon: Thorn. One of the Weapons of Sorrow. The opposite to Last Word._

_"Because fuck you, that's why."_

_The woman pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs deeply as she shakes her head._

_"Rouge.. Rouge.."_

"Rouge! Wake up! Whatever you're doing is attracting those monsters here!"

I jump up and shake off the daze of my dream. Enya practically throws my cloak at me and I slip it on, Last Word clearing my holster in seconds.

"What do you mean attracting them?! Do the assholes eat you in your sleep or something?!"

A wolf tears through the wall to my right only to find three high calibre bullets waiting for him on this side. It quickly turns to dust, one of it's buddies that followed him following in his footsteps and entering Nightmare Hell.

"About an hour after you went to sleep my sensors started going off! They're everywhere now!"

I growl and gun another two down before reloading. I duck into a swipe as I do, the wolves claws sailing overhead. I stab it in the gut and put the barrel of Last Word under it's chin. It loses its mind at that move.

Literally. Cause I.. you know. Shot it. In the head. Anyway..

"Guess we're headed to Vale now, then!"

Enya fades from view into my backpack, having already mapped out the route with waypoints. I hop backwards through the window after throwing a grenade, hoping to get quite a few on my way out.

I jump up again a second after I touch the ground and use double jump, blowing another wolfs kneecap off before finishing it off with a shot to the head. I land on my sparrow thanks to Enya, and immediately gun it away from the village. Last Word switches to Bad News in my hand as I ride with my body leaning left and right, taking hard turns to avoid the swarm of nightmares keen on eating my face.

About ten minutes later I'm home free, my helmet on to cut out the wind as I ride down the worn path.

"So, what exactly happened back there?"

I hear a metallic hum in my helmet as Enya does some more thinking.

"I'm honestly not sure, Guardian. It almost seemed like after you sat still for a while, they honed in on you. Which would make sense. It's much easier to home in on something if it's no longer moving."

I hum in agreement. These Nightmares are getting more annoying by the day.. and they need to make the decision on whether they're smart or stupid. Smart enough to track? But stupid enough to charge into battle like a brute? It doesn't make any sense..

"How long till we reach Vale?"

"We should be there at nightfall tomorrow, given breaks. Even at full speed it's quite a distance away.."

I sigh. This is gonna be a long trip..

———_Line Break!———_

_Eight hours later.._

Having only an hour of sleep and then travelling cross country on a space motorcycle is not as near as fun as it sounds.. trust me.

I currently rest on the side of the road, leaning against my Sparrow. Enya has a holographic version of the map in front of me letting me look it over.

"So it's about.. Eleven in the morning? Approximately. This planet apparently does have a 24 hour day and night cycle.. how convenient. So yeah, a little after seven then if we make good time."

I munch on some left over rabbit meat from the night before, sighing and rubbing my eyes. I'm really starting to hate this planet. Good news is, no Nightmare attacks aside from the stupid little ones that decide to cross me when I'm in a bad mood..

"Like I said. And once we're there, we'll have our answers."

The rabbit bone returns to the earth- er. Well. Planet. I really need to find the name of this place.. I nod towards Enya and then climb onto my sparrow, straddling the seat.

"How about.. playlist 3, this time. I like that music."

Enya's shell spins before she fades from sight back to my backpack. A few seconds later the words of the song spill into my ear..

_Livin easy, livin free._

_Season ticket on a one way ride._

_Askin nothing, leave me be.._

"Next one! I've heard that one enough times."

I can almost feel Enya's eye roll, but the song stops and the next one starts playing.

_There is, a House. In New Orleans._

_They caaaaallll the Rising Sun.._

_And it's beeeennn the ruin, of Many a poor boy. _

_And god, I know.. I'm one._

_———————Line Break!———————_

_Yet another seven hours pass. Save me from this endless ride.. _

I never thought I'd say this, but..

I am _sick _of riding my sparrow. I am totally done riding for quite a while now.. and I want my ship back.

"We're two kilometres out. We're almost..."

Enya trails off at the end ominously. Of course it's ominous..

"What's happening Enya?"

"Look around us."

I pull my sparrow to a stop and gaze out into the woods surrounding us. I can spy quite a few Nightmares running through the woods.

In the same direction we're headed.

Towards Vale.. of course they are.

Fuck Me.

"Rouge. We should go faster."

I nod in agreement. No arguments here.

"Swap me for Hammerhead and Recluse. I have a feeling it's gonna be a long night.."

I gun my sparrows engine again, pushing it as wide open as I possibly can. The engine roars but the Nightmares completely ignore me. Whatever their after has their full attention..

"I'm picking up radio chatter! Patching in."

_"The Atlesian fleet is compromised! I repeat, the Atlesian Fleet is compromised! Any and all Atlesian Knights and Paladins are now Disable on Sight!"_

_"Oh god they're everywhere!"_

_"Nevermore and Gryphon are in Amity! Evacuate now!"_

_"Watch those wrist rockets!"_

_"Vale is on high alert! All Active and Former hunters have been called in!"_

"Cut it, Enya. It's chaos in there.. but there's Hunters. Could be Guardians.."

Enya doesn't answer. She's not so sure..

Honestly neither am I. Only Cayde was that lucky.

I finally come to a cliff overlooking the giant city in the distance. Quite honestly it's beautiful.. rivalling the Last City. A giant palace sits on another set of cliffs in the distance from the city itself, and high in the sky sits a.. Beyblade? A giant conical shaped structure floating there. Ships fly to and from it and giant creatures swarm the structure and attack the ships fleeing.

"That must be Amity on the hill there.."

Enya marks a route on my map, leading straight to the palace.

I'm already throttling it wide open before shes even done.

———_Line Break!———_

As soon as I crest the hill I leap from my sparrow and duck into a roll. I come back up with Hammerhead in my hands, gunning down four or five wolves that are swarming a guy that.. seriously needs a new shirt.

"Whew! Thanks, man! I was worried for a second there."

He quickly steps back into battle, easily knocking a wolf out of the sky and causing it to dissolve. I step beside him and gun down as many enemies as I can, the seventy-three rounds of Hammerhead going by in a flash.

"What the hells going on here, Blondie?!"

He spins his staff and takes out another wolf and a small Rhino looking thing. His staff splits into gun.. nunchucks? What the hell?

"We're under attack, Duh!"

I roll my eyes as I slap another box mag into Hammerhead. I swap to Ace of Spades, Strykers Sure Hand appearing in my left hand. I send a silent thanks to Enya.

"No shit, Sherlock! Are you guys evacuating?"

He fires a few more rounds to finish off the last few nightmares, earning us a break. A few other people fight a couple of giant robots. I finally notice Blondies tail, watching it sway back and forth. It looks like a monkeys tail..

"Enya. That guy has a tail."

"I noticed."

"I want one."

"No."

"Enya."

"Ro. You're in a battle. The guy is talking to you."

"Enya. It's a _Bunny Girl._"

I practically squeal. She's so adorable! I love this world. It's amazing. I'm gon-

"Helloooo? Red? You in there?"

A hand waves in front of my face and I shake myself out of my daydream. I give a quick nod to him.

"Rouge, not Red. But yeah, just got distracted. It's been a long day."

He lets out a sarcastic laugh and nods. Subtly flexing. Like seriously this dude needs a new shirt.. or to button it up. I admire his confidence though..

"Yeah. Tell me about it.. Sun, by the way. We're getting everyone to the docks and evacuating Beacon. We all have to go, _now. _Even the White Fang is pulling out!"

I nod and follow his point to a few other aircraft that peel away, away from the castle. The Bunny Girl keeps destroying the robots, using.. holographic weapons?! She's _so cool. _Does that girl have a Minigun?! Alright. I love this place.

"Alright. Let's help them out, first. They-"

The Bunny Girl suddenly gets decked by a robot. That makes me _really _angry. What level asshole do you have to be to punch a cute bunny girl? Like, probably Crota level.

Before I can react though a girl with a very nice looking white skirt zooms up and blocks another punch from the robot.. by summoning a Giant Sword with accompanying Arm.

Seriously what even is this place? Bunnygirls with Holographic Weapons? Monkey Kings with Gunchucks? A fashionista with a minigun? Nightmare animals?

Maybe I shouldn't talk. I channel the sun into a freaking revolver..

Sun and I step over and join the crowd; a Massive wall of a man with a bronze sword, the very well dressed looking chick with the Minigun, and a Blue Haired guy who looks like he's using some sort of Arc rifle. At least that's somewhat familiar..

Before we say anything though, another massive robot steps out. It's a bit bulkier than the others were and has a more detailed centrepiece. Basically meaning: _'This Robot was built to Rock your Shit.'_

"Oh you have Got to be kidding me!"

Sun says, and I wholeheartedly agree. I slowly draw Last Word and hold it at my hip. Can't be any tougher than a Minotaur, right? Right..?

As it charges us it stumbles and falls, sliding to a stop a few feet from us. The lights flicker out at the same time an explosion goes off in the distance, originating from the city. I give it a soft kick.. dead. Thank goodness.

"Huh. That went better than expected."

I nod in agreement with Sun. Could've been a lot worse..

"Weiss! You're okay! Have you met with Ruby?"

Small and white shakes her head tiredly. The new blondes smile drops a little as she gives a quick glance around.

"Have you seen Blake?"

I look around myself, noticing the sudden influx of people. Weird looking people.. one of them on a hoverboard. A lot of them girls. Definitely very interesting.. and curious since no ones called me out. I guess weird is normal here? I mean one of the girls looks like a human version of Nyan Cat..

"She went after an Alpha, and some members of the White Fang.."

The girl with the white ponytail, Weiss, answers the pretty blonde. Is she related to Sun? They both seem to hate excess clothing..

But, it seems I was correct in the Alpha part. There _is _some sort of hierarchy to the monsters. Wonder what's at the top..

A sudden screech and the heavy beating of wings snags my attention. I look up, and immediately let my shoulders fall.

You have _got _to be kidding me..

Above the castle is a massive black dragon, white bones protruding from its body. It has quite a few eyes, all blood red and filled with hate. An Ahamkara? I really hope not..

Enya finally decides to pitch in after a long silence.

"I think _that _is at the top.."

———_End of Chapter Three!———_

_Yep! I chose kinda in between. It's still Beacon, but it's the end of Vol. 3 where shit is continuously hitting the fan. This was actually pretty fun to write (even though I've been sick the last few days -_-). Here's hoping Grimm Dragon drops a new exotic! _

_*gets another Riskrunner*_

_Sigh.._

_Anyways! The first time outside of the village, the Beowulf's all looked to the Northeast: Towards Vale. That was when Yang kneecapped Mercury. And then the next day is obviously when everything goes down. I'm not entirely sure that's how it went in the show? But it makes the most sense: calling off the rest of the matches for the day after Yangs stunt, then resuming the next day._

_And concerning Ro's fireteam: Summer is not **the **Summer Rose. She's my best friend and fireteam member and Crimson Doubles partner (even though I dislike Crucible..) which, yes. She picked the name because of Summer Rose in RWBY XP. And Lexi is my other fireteam member and the best Titan! They're both awesome._

_Well, I hope you guys enjoyed! I'm already working on the next chapter! And it's gonna be pretty sweet. I'm excited :3 like always. And I'm thinking of writing just a Fluffy Beacon story, with Milk and Cereal and Bumbleby in it. I dunno._

_Although at the time of posting this it's Monday, launch of Season of Dawn is tomorrow on Destiny. So needless to say Updates may be a little slower.. XP_


	4. It's a Mad World

Note: So, for some reason FanFics mobile app has decided to mess with formatting _and _make the doc manager text white on white, so I can hardly see what I'm typing right now. Luckily I had this chapter finished the day I posted Chapter Three because I was in a rather writey mood. I've held off because I've actually written this one _twice, _once in First Person (this one, the original) and a Second time in third person. I quite like writing from Ro's perspective, but I'm definitely going to incorporate more views in third person in future chapters to see Rouge from a different light and to explain the reasoning behind some of the decisions the characters make. That's what I intend to try, anyway.

Now, Reviews! Or, Review. Only had one since the last chapter:

NyarlathoteptheCrawlingChaos: Not sure if you're joking or not, but the whole Rogue/Rouge thing was a joke from the first chapter and a bit of an inside joke. The first time I came up with Rouge's name I pronounced it _Rogue _but spelled it _Rouge. _I know the difference, but I just didn't realise it at first XP now I use it as just a bit of a joke. 

————_Chapter Four: It's a Mad World_————

"Great. There's a freaking Dragon now too?!"

I exclaim, exasperated. Guess the cute animal people come with trade offs..

Sun throws up his arms, just as sick of this stuff as I am.

"I know, right?! This is crazy! How are we supposed to fight _that?!_"

I shrug in response. Maybe one of these guys have a Harpoon in their pocket? Or a nuke? Maybe Nyan Cat kills it with rainbow powers and friendship?

I use my neural link to talk with Enya.

_'Any ideas, Little Light?' _I ask. My eyes wander over the dragon, another screech echoing across the palace.

_'I'm not sure. Golden Gun is always an option. Overwhelming firepower seems to work in all other instances. Even an Ahamkara if you have enough guardians with rocket launchers.'_

A sigh escapes me. What I would give for a Gjallarhorn right now..

_'Whoa. Hold on. Massive influx of power from the base of the tower. Similar to.. a Risen. Or a Guardian in their Super.'_

I immediately turn towards the tower. A New Light? Here? Perhaps we're closer to the traveller than we thought. Or this ghost could give us answers..

"Blake! Y-Yang.."

I turn back to the crowd and follow Weiss' gaze to two survivors heading to the docks with us. The black haired one is badly beaten, and Blondie from earlier is unconscious. And missing an arm..

I step up and gently help the black haired girl- who I'm assuming is Blake _oh my gosh she's got kitty ears. _Okay. Fawn later, blondies bleeding out..

We set Yang down carefully and I look around for some medical supplies, seeing none at the moment.

"Someone get me a medkit! Sun, give me your shirt! You're hardly using it anyway!"

He obliges and I use it to staunch Yangs bleeding as we wait for the medics to make it to us. I move Suns now blood soaked shirt a tiny bit to get a closer look at it..

_'Clean cut. At an angle. Someone sliced it off with a blade.' _Enya supplies. I nod in agreement.. guess no matter what world you're on, people suck.

_'Can you do anything?' _I ask her. Lessen the pain, fix it.. anything.

_'I don't wish to stake her life on experimentation. There's no telling how her light would react to ours..'_

Damn it.. I shake my head and hand Yang over to a couple of professionals. They quickly bandage Yang's arm up the best they can.

"No. _We _will find them. Watch after Blake and Yang. We'll be back."

Weiss and a new.. kid? She's so small! And young. Now that I think about it.. all of these people seem to be on the younger side. But that cloak.. is she a Hunter?

They both run off back to the castle. They're gonna get themselves killed..

Or I could die for them, and nothing of value would be lost. I like that plan.

I quickly run off after them, Strykers' Sure Hand in my left hand and Ace in my right.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" Sun calls after me with worry creeping into his voice.

"I'm not gonna let those two die alone!" I answer back, still running after Weiss and Red. Sun sputters and gasps.

"H-How about don't let them die _at all?!_"

Oh, yeah. That sounds like a good plan too.

_'You really need to work on your phrases.'_

I roll my eyes as I run and quickly catch up to Weiss and little Red, who seem to be talking on a device.

_"Don't worry about me! Please, you have to save Pyrrha.." _A guys voice says from her communicator. The display reading '_Jaune Arc' _with the picture of a blonde guy smiling at the camera. A friend? Boyfriend?

"We will. Are you okay?"

A yell comes over the line before it goes dead. I think that's a no..

"Jaune? Jaune?!" Weiss calls over the line. Jaune doesn't respond.. may the Traveller or whatever god you believe be with you, Jaune..

Before they can say anything else the Dragon flies above again, it's deafening roar causing Weiss and Little Red to cover their ears. It lands on the tower, clinging to it's walls and letting out another massive roar. I really wish I brought my rocket launcher with me..

Little Red draws her weapon: a small red contraption. It quickly shifts and transforms into the biggest mechanical scythe I've ever seen, longer than she is tall.

_'Jesus Christ, isn't that a bit overkill?!' _I exclaim in my head. Little White draws her rapier, standing side by side with Little Red. Yeah little White doesn't work for Weiss.. I'll think of something else.

"I have a plan." Weiss smiles at the woman's words and gives her a quick glance. And seemingly noticing me for the first time standing behind them in a totally not creepy manner.

"You always do. And why are you here?" She turns partway to me with a glare. She shakes her head a moment later.

"It doesn't matter. Let's go!"

I nod in agreement with her: questions later. Their friends in trouble. Good to see her priorities are straight.

The three of us run towards the main tower again where the giant dragon is climbing its way to the top. I side step a warthog looking Nightmare and fire into it's side- the bullet only pissing it off. It curls up and rolls like Sonic the Hedgehog at me only for me to block it with my sword. It emits an energy shield and causes it to bounce off, sliding me back a step on the ground.

"Hit it's belly! It's the weak point!" Little Red calls to me in the midst of slicing through a Bear like it's made of butter. That scythe is _definitely _overkill.

I follow her instructions and put two rounds from Ace of Spades into it's stomach, causing it to dissolve shortly after. I make a mental note of that and join back with the other two as Red shoots a wolf with her Scythe. Wait, it's a _gun _too?! A freaking massive calibre too. These kids are geniuses. Why don't we do this stuff?

"We've gotta hurry!!" Red calls out as we reconvene. I fire at a few more Wolves that try to approach and Weiss looks up the tower. She casts a spell, or.. whatever it is that's called, symbols appearing all along the wall to the top.

"You can do this." Weiss nods to Red after giving her encouragement. I really hope you're right Weiss..

Red runs and jumps up to the first symbol, shifting into Rose petals along the way. That's.. very fitting considering her colour scheme. But still, how?!

"So.. what do _we _do?" I ask Weiss as I put another cylinder of rounds into Ace of Spades. We both turn to the hordes of nightmares circling the tower and I roll my shoulders, Weiss raising her sword.

"We hold this position until Ruby returns with Pyrrha. Then, we evacuate." Weiss spares a glance at the hordes surrounding us then looks back to me. "My name is Weiss Schnee. I feel since we are fighting together.. it would be best to know each other's name." She loads crystals into the hilt of her Rapier. It's.. a revolver? Is everything a gun here? Is this.. is this heaven?

"Rouge. Rouge.. uh.." I glance up at the moon for a moment. What's a good last name?

"Rouge.. Fall?"

Nailed it.

"It's nice to meet you, Rouge Fall. Perhaps if we make it out of here I'll introduce you to the rest of my team." She nods to me before dashing at a bear, slicing at it's stomach. She backflips to evade a swipe from the nightmare before thrusting her sword into it's face, slicing horizontally, then finishing it by jumping over it's head and using her magic to push her down and impale it through it's neck.

_'I think I'm in love with this planet now.' _I say. Totally not drooling. These guys are _badasses, _all I do is shoot stuff! They're like Saint-14: They _are _weapons! This is ama-

"Rouge!!" Weiss calls out in alarm and dashes her way to me.

I'm interrupted by a Wolf plunging it's claws through my stomach. Like.. Dude. I was gushing over badasses.

I shakily raise Ace of Spades, firing twice into it's face and killing it. It falls on the ground and starts to dissolve.

"Oh gods, R-Rouge, you're gonna be.. Oh.. Kay.." Her eyes slowly widen as my stomach knits itself back together. Enya hovers around me and restores me with the light making me look as good as new.

"I'll explain later, for now-"

_"**PYRRHAAAA!" **_

My heart drops instantly as I recognise the hurt and loss in her voice. One I encountered many times helping Hawthorne outside the walls. I cover Weiss' eyes with my hand and screw my own shut tight as a wave of light like a flashbang washes over us. I hiss as a wave of pain crashes over me as well but shrug it off best I can. Silence reigns shortly after, and I open my eyes, letting Weiss up at the same time.

"What the hell.." I look around. Ashes slowly float away in the wind, the once loud battlefield now deathly quiet. Weiss steps up beside me, just as shocked as I am.

"The Grimm.. they're.. just gone?" She says softly. I glance at her for a moment then back out at the castle grounds. Distantly I can see the nightmares- Grimm, as Weiss called them, making their way towards us.

"Not all of them.. I'll clear a path, you head to the docks." She turns to me with a glare and shakes her head.

"Not without Ruby and Pyrrha, they're still-" Weiss is interrupted by a soft thump from inside the building. A man steps outside, holding a bundle of red. Ruby. Unconscious, but alive.

"Weiss, Docks. Now. Who's this?" The mans rough voice cuts through the air as he approaches us, each step filled with purpose.

"Rouge Fall, she-" Weiss hardly continues before Ruby's in her arms, tossed by the man so he can draw his weapon. And bury it in my chest faster than I can process. I blink a few times as I look down at the blade. Seriously?

"A-Alrighty then.. Asshole.." I growl. My golden eyes bore into the guys head as I slowly die.

Seriously. What a Dick.

Enya revives me and I look around with Last Word in my hand. Strykers' Sure Hand rests on my back. I spy Weiss running off towards the Docks with Ruby in her arms, the asshole who killed me following close behind and keeping the Grimm at bay.

"Hey, Asshole! That was _really _rude, and now you're just running off?!" I yell out after him. Weiss glances back wide eyed and the man stops and turns, in as much disbelief as Weiss is. He motions for Weiss to keep going, slowly approaching me again.

"You were dead, kid.. you didn't even have your aura up." He draws his sword. The blade extends and curves, the handle extending to a staff length with two hand grips. Another Scythe. Probably the one that taught little Red.. Great.

_'You could just tell him the truth.' _Enya reasons. But.. the dude stabbed me in the chest. And that _hurt. _

"You're right, I did die. But I walked it off." I glare at the dickhead who made me a Ro-Kebab. Last Word twirls around my finger lazily, my eyes never leaving the scruffy man.

"Sure. You came back from the dead. Of course you did. I suppose if I kill you you'll just come back again?" His grip on his scythe tightens and I scowl. This guy better not..

"Yeah! And I probably won't be in much of a talkative mood when I come back. Dying still hurts, you know!"

We stare each other down for another few seconds, long enough for a Wolf to jump at the mans head. I fire Last Word in a flash and put a new hole in its head. Its body falls onto the man, who slices it clean in half and lets the two pieces fall either side of him and slowly dissolve.

"Fine. Come with me. You make and funny moves and I'll find a way to make you _stay _dead, got it?" His scythe transforms back into a sword, then that sword transforms into a smaller more compact version. Everything is so efficient here. I want a gun scythe too..

"Alright. But I've got a _lot _of questions.."

"Ask em when we're not in a place filled with Grimm, and I'm sure my niece isn't dying." He glares at me for a moment before marching off towards the dock, with me following close behind.

_'Well. He seems friendly.' _I roll my eyes under my helmet. Friendly is a bit of a stretch..

_'Everyone here is like a living weapon. It's awesome, but worrying. I feel outgunned for once in my life.' _Enya can't help but agree, running statistics in her little ghost brain.

_'Hasn't stopped us before. We've been outgunned plenty of times. Although the one thing helping that is the fact that death is just a minor setback..'_

I sigh and nod as we board one of the aircraft. Ruby rests on a medical cot with Weiss watching over her, and her Uncle watching over her as well. But mostly me. Staring very intently at me.

"What.. _are _you?"

Weiss is the first one to break the silence. She slowly looks up at me.

"First you healed from that Beowulf's claws to the stomach.. and then you were standing there like someone _didn't _just run you through with a sword. Is it your semblance? Can you just.. decide to not take the damage?"

Semblance? Is that their word for magic? Like her Symbols and Ruby turning into Rose petals.. I finally shrug and slip my helmet off. I hold it to my side, letting my hair fall to my shoulder blades. I quickly put it in a ponytail like I always have it in. I give them both a moment before speaking.

"I'm a Hunter. I'm not from this world. Honestly, I landed on the moon before I had to find a way to launch myself off of it to land on the planet. I made it to Vale a few hours ago after landing in Buraitoudo, a settlement to the Southwest. I came here looking for answers and saw those Nightmares attacking the castle, Amity. And that big toy top in the sky. So I came to provide assistance."

Weiss blinks a few times, shocked. The man looks rather surprised too but seems to be fighting something back.

"You didn't per chance.. do anything to the moon while you were up there, did you?" Weiss' head whips around to the man in shock.

"You can't _actually _believe that-"

"Uh, yeah? I could tell no ones been there before. The first person to visit a planet? I had to take my chance."

Weiss almost snaps at me for interrupting her but Qrow bursts out laughing. I glance at Weiss who looks just as confused as I do.

"Oh Gods, so _you're _the reason why James was in such a state this morning? 'First the tournament goes to shit now I'm getting reports of something on the moon! What the hells going on around here..'" He mocks in a hard tone, breaking out in a chuckle again. He shakes his head and sobers up as he looks over Ruby's unconscious form.

"Look kid. Sorry about running you through. But a security breach led to this whole shindig going down the drain, and you just so happened to fit the bill of one of our attackers. Last name Fall, dressed in red and gold."

I sigh. That's _just _my luck. I had to pick the absolute worst last name possible. Can't I just have good luck for once?

"I understand. I'm just glad it was me, and not someone else. Someone else wouldn't have gotten up from that."

Weiss shifts uncomfortably and glances up at me. The man crosses his arms, eyes hardening while he looks me up and down.

"Yeah. Care to explain that bit? Usually when someone's insides are introduced to the outside, they don't walk away."

I sigh softly. My eyes wander to Weiss who quickly looks away, then back to the man with his gaze fixed on me expectantly.

"I don't know how stuff works here, but I'm not your enemy. I fight to defend the light, and what's left of humanity. Right now there's no forceable way for me to get back to where I'm from, so that means you guys are on top of my protection list now. So long as my trust isn't misplaced.."

The dark haired man takes a sip from his flask and nods to me. He gives me a weird look.. like one of recognition. I definitely don't remember this guy. At all..

"Kid. I'm probably one of the best ones you can trust right now. Somethings telling me I don't wanna talk all out in the open like this.. But we'll finish this later. I'm taking this one and her sister to their home. I'll come find you in a few hours. If I don't find you.."

He hands me a device from his pocket- the same one Weiss used to call her friend Jaune earlier.

"I'll send you a location to meet. Don't worry, I've got a spare. Well my friend does, but that's beside the point.." He waves me off, stepping past me as the aircraft touches down. The medics inform us that Ruby is just suffering from exhaustion but is otherwise fine. Yang is.. alright. But she's down a hand. Their uncle nods to Weiss and I as we step out of the VTOL after them. They board another aircraft, leaving Weiss and I alone in the disaster Center that's been set up in Vale.

"Where are you from? You said you were not from this world.." Weiss asks. She looks up at me, seeming to study me in a new light now that the man is gone. I turn back to everyone else, people rushing around to help the injured and organise the refugees.

"You think you should really be asking those sorts of questions out in public..? Like that guy said." I glance back at her. Earth certainly would've aimed a gun before asking questions about new visitors.. something tells me this place is more of the same. I don't miss the blush that crosses Weiss' cheeks.

"Oh. Right. My apologies. I could-"

_"Miss Schnee!" _

Both Weiss and I turn to see the source of the voice, a pair of well dressed men in white suits approaching us. I take a cautious step forward and glance the two up and down. This doesn't feel right..

"Miss Schnee. We're here to take you back to Atlas." The slightly taller man on my right says. He has blonde hair, but not like Weiss'. More dirty blonde, with brown eyes.

"But.. I can't. My friends.." She glances back at the crowds behind her before giving a resigned sigh. I bite my cheek to keep from talking.

"It wasn't an offer, Miss Schnee. You're coming with us."

Alright. Alarm bells are _definitely _going off now.

"Excuse me? Pretty sure-"

A hand on my shoulder stops me from going further. Weiss gently leads me aside.

"It's my family, Rouge. I can handle it. Besides, I may be able to push my father further towards sending aid from Atlas."

I sigh softly. I hope this girl knows what she's doing..

I finally cave in and step out of the way for her.

"Thanks for your help at Beacon. Hopefully we'll meet again.." She gives me a small smile and nods to me, disappearing into the crowds with the two men. I look around at all the people..

But somehow still feel very alone.

_'She seemed nice. Proper, but nice. Like royalty.' _I laugh lightly at Enya's description and make my way out of the camp headed deeper into town. I walk along the sidewalks, gazing at the city around me.

_'Yeah. I like her. I hope we do meet up again soon. And this place.. it really reminds me of the records of Pre-Golden Age earth. It's.. quite beautiful.' _I watch as a store owner hands out waters and some food to some of the refugees. A small smile comes to my face. I continue my journey not long after, finding my way through the winding streets of Vale. This place is huge! Not as big as the Last City, but still..

I manage to find my way to the docks and come to a stop, looking up at the wreckage in front of me. One of the airships I saw on my way into Vale..

_'Hm. Must've been what was controlling the robots. Went down in the battle..' _My ghost supplies. I walk up to the still flaming wreckage, emergency crews working all around it. My eyes drift to a small girl sitting away from the wreckage.. tears staining her face, a hat clutched in her arms.

_'She must've lost someone in the crash. Poor girl..' _I sigh. Sometimes I wish I could bring others back.. Erase the hurt of loss. Sadly I can only try and prevent it in the first place.

_'You should go say something. You were always good with the kids in and outside the Last City.' _Enya says softly. I roll my eyes but smile a little.

_'That's because they saw me as a super hero. These guys.. I'm just another soldier, to them.'_ I smile at the memory, playing Super Hero with the kids and Summer..

I glance back up and the small girl is looking straight at me. Eyes boring into my soul. Like she knows me, and not in a good way.

That's not a little girl.. not anymore.

I blink, and she's gone. Vanished entirely from her spot.

'_Enya..?' _

_'Behind you! Jump!' _

I do as told and jump, narrowly avoiding a sword aimed for my chest. I land back behind the person wielding it.. the girl. Woman? Angry little Shit aiming to pierce my heart in the non-romantic way..

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on! No stabby, please! I didn't even do anything!" I backstep and her face morphs into a scowl. She now wears the hat on her head, her umbrella held tight in her hand. I stay on guard in case she _somehow _shoots me with it. I wouldn't be surprised at this point. And what is it with people and wanting to kill me today?!

"Seriously. I like having my body in one piece. Why don't we just talk?" She glares harder at me after I say that. What did I say wrong?!

She thrusts her umbrella sword at me again and I use Gamblers Dodge to get away, moving further backwards. I glare back at her and slide my hand to Last Word. Wait, I thought it was Ace before? Hm. Enya knows me too well..

"Look, you little shit. This is like my second _hour _or so in Vale and you're the second person that's tried to kill me! So can you just stop? Maybe talk about your feelings? Cry into a bowl of ice cream or something and not use me as a damn human stress ball?!"

She hesitates for once and looks me up and down again. Tears still water her eyes, but she slowly lowers her umbrella. Then points to her throat. What's that supposed to mean?

_'I think she is mute, she's not said anything since you first.. met.' _Enya's voice comes over our link. Ohhhh... that makes sense. That's why she got mad at me talking about.. talking.

"Oh. Uh.. Sorry. I didn't know.." She waves me off and plops down at the edge of the sidewalk defeately. Her pink and brown hair is dirty and matted, cuts and bruises all over her body.

She digs her knife into the pavement, carving out letters into the concrete. Wait a second.. that's.. that's one of my throwing knives. What the hell?! How did she even..?

_'Thought u were another' _She spells out. I laugh softly and roll my eyes.

"Trust me, you're not the first. The first guy literally killed me. I-I mean, not literally. He literally tried. To stab me through with his sword, then he had this wicked transforming Scythe." I stammer a bit, figuring it might not be the best idea to tell everyone in Vale that I'm immortal. Some might want to challenge that.. or start a cult. Call me a god. Two extremes I want no part in.

'_Hntr?' _I look back down after she taps my arm and at her new crude carving. I nod and sigh.

"Yeah, he was.. Is a Hunter. Or do you mean me? I'm a hunter too. My names Rogue."

Not Fall. Definitely _not _Fall. Because whoever that chick is is apparently a massive capital B Witch.

She carves into the street again, getting a little frustrated at the method of communication. She throws the knife in anger and impales it hilt deep into a street lamp across the road. Her carving however, is finished.

_'Neo.' _

"Well. Nice to meet you, Neo. Remind me to _never _piss you off. Like, ever. I'm not too keen on the business end of your umbrella."

She smiles slightly and gives a cute once nod, twiddling my knife in her hand again. Wait, when did she go get it..? Whatever. Nothing should surprise me anymore. This world is too weird. But hey, a smile! That's an improvement.

"Were you at Beacon? I'm not entirely sure what the hell happened around here. I drove up and everything was already going to hell."

She looks away and down to the ground. She eventually shakes her head and then points at the ship down the street.

"Oh. You were on that thing? Jeez.. I bet it was even worse up in the air. I'm glad you made it out alright.."

She nods slowly before slipping her hat off. She points to it and shakes her head, more tears threatening to spill out again.

"I'm.. I'm sorry for your loss. But I'm sure they would've been glad to know you made it out.."

Neo nods and hugs the hat close. She quietly starts to cry again, and I awkwardly pat her back in an effort to comfort her.

"Hey. It'll be alright, Shortcake. Whoever the chick is that did all this is still out there. Maybe you can help bring her down. Give her what she deserves." Good job! Give her something to live for. Something to do. To make things right.

"And you know what? I'll even help you if you want. Even if it's purely because I'm sick of taking the heat for her.."

Neo laughs silently, her shoulders mainly conveying the laugh. She nods and wipes her tears. I smile warmly down at her. Heck yeah! I _am _good with kids! She'd probably murder me if she heard that though.

She pulls out a little device, which I suppose is this places equivalent of phones. She wiggles it in front of me.

"Ah, no. I.. don't exactly have my own. I mean I have some random dudes but I don't think I should text you on it because he might ask for it back.."

The answer earns a pout from the small girl. Her fingers fly across the keyboard, then she holds it up to me.

_'Can't go together. There's some places I've got to visit, and they probably wouldn't appreciate a human huntress accompanying me. But.. thank you. For talking. Not many people stop to help those in need nowadays. We'll meet again soon.'_

I smile and stand up a little straighter. I'm a model citizen! Helping those in need!

Galaxies away, Ikora Rey shivers. A horrible feeling fills her gut..

"You're welcome, Shortcake. And I understand. That and there's a high chance they might try and kill me.. seriously I'm hating this chick more and more as the night goes on."

She giggles silently again and nods. Her hat settles back on her head, then she shatters into thousands of shards of glass.

Like one does when they're done with a conversation. They just.. explode. Into lots of glass.

Yeah. This is fine.

————_Chapter Four: It's a Mad World————_

That was honestly really fun to write, and I had a fair bit done before I finished tidying up Chapter Three. Dialogue is one of my favourites to write, and I love writing the Budding Romance between Rouge and.. Qrow! XP I'm just joking. I'm setting up _Avenues of Possibility _really. Go with Qrow? Join the Oz Gang? Or help the little Ice Cream girl on her crusade? Or just open a Spicy Ramen shop in Vale? The possibilities are endless!

I also liked poking a lot of fun at Ro's origin. Picking Fall since she fell from the moon. She's a simple girl. And how a grief stricken Neo saw the similarities between Ro and Cinder and was like 'Close enough'. Poor Rouge though. She's gonna Die a lot. If anything like, Base Guardian Rouge is pretty underpowered compared to the rest of Remnant. The Equaliser is her Light: Mainly Golden Gun and the reviving. That puts her back up on the board.

I included Neo just cause.. I really like Neo. Best Ice Cream Girl. Redemption Arc maybe? I kinda took Romans _"It's not what I have to gain from this, it's that I can't afford to lose." _To mean that like.. if they tried anything else they'd probably be dead by Cinder. They didn't have much of a choice. Dead, or worse.. 

Kinda wanna throw Adam at Ro too. Imagine him using Wilt and Blush on six Golden Gun shots.. 

And one final RIP to OzCormick. Your beautiful voice will be missed.


	5. Aftermath

Hello again! The Doc Manager on the app got updated and fixed! So with it, another update! :D!

_Reviews!_

CheesusChrist: I see where you're coming from, but.. The Guardian doesn't really fear _anything, _especially not these people. At most they're just very skilled humans. The worst they can do is just kill her, which is just a small annoyance in all honesty. Like, the Guardian has stared down legitimate Gods before and killed them. Only after Qrow is like 'Maybe we shouldn't talk about that stuff in the open' does she agree to keep it down low.

Beyond that, I think it's just.. silly to have characters lie just for the sake of lying? Like Rouge has quite literally _no _reason to lie or hide what she is, and it's quite obvious if you look close enough that she's _not _from Remnant. People didn't look twice initially because there were bigger things going on at the moment. So why would she lie? People would find out eventually. Better to get on with it straight out of the gate instead of having a whole 'You lied to us, why?!?' Type thing. And it's just not in Ro's character to lie when she sees no reason to. Either people believe her, or they don't. It's just that simple. Either way Darkness still exists, and she has a job to do.

—————_Chapter Five: Aftermath—————_

"So you're saying you killed her." Qrow nods at the mans statement. "And then she just came back, like nothing ever happened? No injuries whatsoever?"

Three individuals stand inside a commandeered dining room. The tables been cleared and covered with aged communication equipment that they're trying to get working again.

The blonde woman sits with her arms propped on the table, head in her hands. She rubs her temples lightly trying to rub the days exhaustion away. She's unlikely to get a break for some time.. The newly appointed Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch sighs at the thought.

One of the two men lean over the table at his counterpart, equally exhausted and three times as pissed. His artificial hand digs into the table leaving deep claw marks. General Ironwood has had a very rough day. Honestly, who hasn't..?

"It's not exactly like we haven't heard of it happening before. Besides, she knew about the moon before I mentioned it, and she took my sword through the chest and only seemed _annoyed. _So yeah, I kinda have to believe her a little bit, James. That, and she said she was at Buraitoudo, which is almost between here and Vacuo. Don't see why someone would be out there, do you? Besides, we work for an undying wizard. Undying Space People from other universes? Why the hell not."

The General rolls his eyes at Qrows words and stands up straight. His arms cross his chest as he looks down at the Huntsman.

"Need I remind you we _just _had a security breach in both Beacon and my own forces? Not to mention she shares the same last name as the one who killed and usurped the previous Fall Maiden."

Glynda sighs tiredly but decides to join the conversation at last. If she doesn't, these two could go on for hours..

"And what shall we do _if _she is an Enemy, James? You heard Qrow. Death is an annoyance to her. She'll just keep coming back no matter what we throw at her." She pauses for a few moments and takes a deep breath. "Does that not sound familiar..?"

Ironwood uncrosses his arms and rests them back on the table. He concedes at last, shaking his head in resignation.

"Fine. I'm leaving the decision to you, Qrow. I have enough problems on my plate.. First someone hacking my military and the next _Jacques _Fucking _Schnee _disobeying direct orders from Vale and entering their airspace and almost triggering a war between Atlas and Vale before the nights even through.. Atlas is going to be a shit show when I get back." He lets out a resigned sigh. "I need a drink.."

Qrow looks up at The General innocently and shrugs.

"Don't look at me. I ran out six hours ago."

The new headmistress looks up, confused.

"But this has been going on for four hours, at most.." She gives Qrow a blank look in realisation. "Why am I not surprised.."

The General clears his throat after the short exchange.

"Well. Best of luck to you both.. I will try and stay in touch, but that is going to be quite difficult with the CCT down.."

Both Glynda and Qrow nod in understanding. A lot of things are going to be difficult with the CCT down. As far as most people believe, Vale could have fallen by now..

"And to you as well, James. We can handle things here in Vale." At this Qrow looks up, surprised.

"We can?"

Only to be corrected by a swift kick to the shin.

"Ompf! Yeah. Right. Of course we can. Only a couple hundred students with no school to go to and a thousand more refugees from other kingdoms, the possible threat of infiltration in our ranks, and an immortal visitor from outer space. No big deal. Right?"

Both of his companions look at him blankly, then at each other, and share a soft sigh. Ironwood bids them a farewell once again, leaving the two in silence.

"Do you trust this girl?" Glyndas voice breaks him out of his thoughts. His eyes find hers as he props his feet up on the table.

"Trust? Not sure yet. But she was there to help the kids fight up at Beacon, so that's something. She helped the Schnee out while Ruby went up the tower. Was prepared to sacrifice herself so Weiss could get out, according to her. Least now we know why.."

He shrugs and tries to sip from his flask, glaring at it when he finds it empty.

"She said she's a huntress, that she 'Protects the light' or whatever. Looked pretty sincere on that. That even if we _did _declare her an enemy, she wouldn't fight us. Hell she wouldn't need to, not like we can kill her in a way that matters.."

Glynda sighs again and rubs her temples. Why can't things just be _simple.. _

She eventually stands with her riding crop in hand.

"I need to meet with the council. See what is to be done with the students. Perhaps we can take volunteers at the walls if some are still in a fighting mood.. With Ozpin gone.. it seems we are to make our own missions for now. Just.. let me know if you plan to leave."

Her shoulders sag for a moment as she lets a bit of weakness show through. Uncertainty, worry, grief for those lost. She quickly straightens again though. Work now.. Grieve later.

"Got it. I'll try to handle little Miss Gunslinger, try to find out where our new Fall Maiden got off to. And check the Vault. Chances are she knew about the Maidens, she knew about the Relic too.."

The Headmistress nods and departs shortly after. Qrow toys with Taiyangs scroll in his hand, spinning it around his finger.

A few seconds later it slips and falls. Cracking on the hard wood surface. Qrow just sighs and stares down at it.

"...I should've seen that coming."

—————_Line Break!—————_

"Neo? Where's Rom..." A quick and very hateful glare pointed at the man shuts him up. He shakes his head sadly.

"Damn.." He takes a deep breath. "Fine. Come on in. We've got quite a few refugees, so watch your step." The man, commonly known as Junior, opens the door to his club a bit more and lets his visitor in. She steps carefully, the club stuffed with people from wall to wall. Some injured and being treated by some of Juniors men, most sitting in silence drinking in the aftermath of what just happened. No music plays in the background. Everyone preferring the sound of the other people comfort them rather than some random dance music.

"Everything's been a clusterfuck since the whole thing went down. My men are working massive overtime, hell we're even working alongside the Vale Government to get people back to their Kingdoms." He makes his way through the crowds of people, checking on one or two he knows personally. The pair eventually make it behind the bar and back into Juniors office.

"But I take it you didn't come here to ask about the state of things." Junior falls back into his chair, relaxing into the comforting leather. Neo nods her head in agreement before placing a scroll on the desk. On it is a picture of a woman with black hair and glowing amber eyes: The new Fall Maiden, Cinder Fall. Junior just glances at it and sighs.

"Going after her is a death sentence, kid.. just look at Beacon. Rumours going around Headmaster Ozpins dead too. If she can take him on, that's not a fight you wanna be in.."

His words just earn a sharper glare from the small girl. She leans forward, tapping the scroll twice.

"Honestly I'm not sure. Best guess I could say is Haven. Or just Mistral. That's where the broadcast said she was from. Figure she'd go home after the battle, don't you?" She nods in agreement then swipes to a new photo of another woman. She looks similar to the Fall Maiden, bearing the same golden eyes and similarly shaped face. Her hair is a mixture of red with interwoven black strands. Her armour is a bit.. Strange, even by Remnants standards.

"I've.. never seen her before. Only thing that looks similar is that spade. Card hustler around Mistral has one, but it's not exactly a unique symbol. Looks kinda like Cinder though.. You going after her sister?" Neo's Parasol slams against the desk less than a second later. Junior jumps, regaining his composure.

"Look, kid. My semblance lets me remember _anything. _I'm telling you. Never heard of her. Never heard of Cinder before all this mess. I'm not omnipotent." He straightens his tie as a nervous habit. Why can't he just deal with normal people..

Neo slowly withdraws her parasol and pockets her scroll that she totally didn't steal earlier that month.

"I can get you to Mistral or one of the nearby settlements if you want, but it's gonna take me some time. They're screening everyone headed that way. Maybe wait till things cool down? Tie up loose ends around Vale, see if Roman had any safe houses and stashes. I can give you work if you need it." He gives her a sympathetic look, resting his arms crossed on the desk. She shakes her head and waves him off.

"Alright.. just take care out there. And watch your back.. There's nothing saying that chick isn't still around Vale." Neo rolls her eyes and smiles.

_"Buisiness as usual, then?" _Her scroll speaks for her. Junior chuckles lightly and nods.

"Yeah. Buisiness as usual." Neo salutes him in farewell, then shatters into a thousand shards of glass.

After she's gone Junior pulls two shot glasses from his desk and pours two out. He clinks his shot glass against the second one lightly.

"Hope the afterlife has blackjack. Save a round for me, would you?"

He sighs after downing the shot.

Things were gonna be a lot quieter from now on..

—————_Line Break!—————_

"So, why exactly are you running?"

A voice calls from Blake's left. She yelps and jumps in surprise, Gambol Shroud in pistol form pointing towards the voice.

"Oh, wow. That's really cool actually. Is everything also a gun here?"

A cloaked figure sits at the other end of the building and calmly watches her. Her hood and helmet hide her face, but Blake still recognises the person: the Spade adorning the cloak not something a lot of people have. In this Universe, anyway.

"You.. you were at Beacon. You helped with Yang." The woman nods in response.

"I did. And if I remember right you were injured too. Up and around so soon? Might tear those stitches."

Blake winces lightly at the reminder of her stab wound. She lowers Gambol Shroud, but only slightly.

"Sun told me he saw you slip away after you got to the city. My names Rouge, by the way. Though I prefer it pronounced Rogue. Sounds a lot cooler." She gives the faunus a gentle wave and lowers her hood. Blake scowls with Gambol Shroud pointed towards the woman again, readying for a fight.

"Why are you here? I heard you on the ship. Another world? Really? I don't believe you. How do I know you're not with the ones that attacked us?"

Rouge rolls her eyes under the helmet and smirks at the woman's paranoid nature.

"You don't, honestly. You only have my word that I defend humanity." Blake's ears flick lightly at her neglection of the Faunus. "Evidence of that being me helping up at Beacon. And helping your friend instead of finishing you both off while you were weak."

Blake keeps glaring, her ears flat against her black hair. Amber eyes scan the person in front of her and Rouge just lets out a resigned sigh. She removes her helmet and it slowly fades from existence causing Blake to take a step back cautiously.

"I mean go ahead, shoot me. Right here." Rouge taps her forehead. "I'll just come back. You heard Qrow firsthand, he already tried killing me. Well he didn't try, he succeeded.. that sword really hurt."

She turns to face the city, and in the distance, the ruins of Beacon Academy. She looks up at the tower where a massive dragon sits frozen to its top.

"I'm here to talk, Blake. I only have one question for you. Although I'm sure you have many for me.."

Blake slowly lowers her weapon. She stares at Rouge, shocked at how.. bored she looked when she told her to kill her. Like she didn't care, she was certain she would come back. Certain that Blake was so little of a threat that she just turns away. Honestly.. it was a little unsettling to the her.

"Why are you here? Why did you come after me.." Blake asks first. She still grasps Gambol Shroud, more for her own comfort than for defence.

"I saw you and Blondie were close. You were worried about her. Then Sun told me you were running away from her. I was curious as to why."

Rouge glances at Blake as she takes a seat about a foot to Rouge's left. The Faunus holds her arms close to herself, watching Beacon in the distance.

"_Yang,"_ She emphasises with a glare to Rouge. "Got hurt because of me. She'll get hurt again if I stay.." Blake's gaze slowly drifts to the ground, the events of the night replaying in her mind.

Rouge hums in response. She twirls a knife in her fingers absentmindedly.

"More than it would hurt to wake up and see her friends gone? Weiss got taken back to Atlas, her sisters unconscious from God knows what happened on that tower. She lost an arm, and who knows how many friends in the battle." She motions to Beacon with her knife then goes back to twirling it around her fingers. "And now you're leaving too."

Blake watches the knife twirl in the woman's hand expertly, like one could only get from many many years of practice.

"If I don't leave, she could die.." Blake takes a shaky breath. "She already almost did."

"And what if she dies now? What if whoever attacked you tonight finishes her off to weaken you? Get you in a compromised emotional state to make the fight easier for them."

Blake's head snaps to face Rouge, eyes wide.

"How can you say that? Like it's just something that happens everyday?!" The Faunus' eyes harden again, glaring at the other woman after she just shrugs.

"Cause it is? People can do horrible things. You just have to accept that. Plan around it. Try to stop it. Darkness lives in all things just as the light does. This whole event clearly shows that." She motions again to Beacon.

Blake slowly looks back to Beacon, watching the Grimm wander around. Claiming their new home. What she had been seeing as her home..

"Who are you?" Rouge receives another question from the woman and she laughs softly.

"I'm Rouge. A Hunter, Guardian. Gunslinger. Lightbearer. Slayer of.. too many to count. A soldier reborn in light to fight the enemy known as the Darkness. They've given me lots of titles.. Wayfarer was the hardest. I've never hated anyone more than I hate Nokris." Blake glances at Rouge in confusion. "Gifted with a little companion known as a Ghost.." Rouge waves her hand and Enya appears causing Blake to lean back slightly. Her eyes widen a little, ears standing up straight.

"Hello, Blake. It's nice to finally meet you face to face." Enya speaks and her shell spins, excited to finally meet someone else.

"You're.. cute. What are you?" Blake says in wonder. She carefully pokes Enya's shell, and Enya headbutts Blake's finger lightly in return.

"As Rouge said, I'm her ghost, Enya. I was created by the Traveller as a conduit for its energy, known as Light. It empowers Guardians to do what normal humans cannot. The most important being Reviving. I can revive Rouge from death. But.. only Rouge." Enya explains. Lake glances at Rouge who smiles warmly, amused at Blake's wonder.

"Why are you telling me all this? Why tell _anyone? _Any of this?" She gives Rouge a disbelieving look. Rouge simply shrugs in return.

"Why lie? Keeping it a secret would just create trust issues if one of my abilities comes to light later. I'm not exactly going to tell the world what and who I am, but you and your friends seem like me. Guardians, Protectors of humanity. I'd rather work together with you and your kind than against it." Blake gently pets Enya as Rouge explains, Enya glaring playfully at the Faunus. Blake nods in agreement. "Besides. You actually think someone else would believe you if you told them? You believe because I'm showing you. As did Qrow after I shrugged off death."

"We are. Or, it's what we were training for. Huntsmen and Huntresses fight the Grimm. Protect humanity, and the Faunus." She sighs softly and looks down at the city. In the distance, a disaster shelter splits the line into two: one for humans, the other for faunus. More for the people's comfort. She understands, but still.. the sight alone hurts.

"There's a difference? I thought you were just a special human.. Like seriously. I want cat ears.." Rouge pouts lightly and looks at Blake's ears jealously. Blake lets out a soft laugh and shakes her head, smile slowly fading.

"Faunus are seen as lower than humans. Some treat them like animals.. put them in cages. Use them as slave labour.." Her voice trails off at the end in a growl. Rouge however looks surprised.

"Wait.. really? That's stupid. You have much better hearing cause of the ears, right?" Blake nods in response, said ears flicking lightly. "Then that's just a straight up improvement over a human. Which is super awesome. But at the same time, very adorable.. like the bunny girl I saw! I love her. She's kind of a badass too.."

The Faunus laughs softly at all the praise and shakes her head. Velvet _is _pretty awesome.

"Her name is Velvet Scarlatina. Part of Team CFVY." Blake answers. "And I suppose that answers why you stare so much.. and how you said humanity instead of both humanity and the Faunus."

Rouge shrugs and smiles innocently.

"Sorry. Cat girls are just fiction where I'm from. And you guys have fireteams?" The Faunus tilts her head then nods.

"Probably not like yours. They're just called teams. Groups of four, two pairs of partners. Yang is my partner, and Weiss is Ruby's. Together, we make team R-W-B-Y." She spells it out for Rouge. "Pronounced 'Ruby.' Team leaders are typically at the beginning. Ruby is ours."

"I bet that's not confusing at all.." Rouge mumbles, earning a soft snort from her companion.

"Honestly it doesn't. Or hasn't, yet.." Blake slowly look back down sadly. They both feel the underlying 'It won't in the future' at the end.

"You're still leaving, aren't you?" Rouge looks back to Blake, with the Faunus refusing to look back at her eyes. "Fine. I won't stop you. Just don't get yourself killed. You don't have the ability to come back."

The black haired woman blinks a few times, then tilts her head.

"You won't stop me?"

Rouge shakes her head in response.

"Your choice, your life. Just wanted to know why you were leaving your friends is all." Blake winces at the last part and looks away. She stands and starts to walk off, reaching the edge of the roof.

"You can't run forever, you know."

Rouge's words stop her for a moment. She looks back to see Rouge looking up at the destroyed CCT tower, and Enya floating where she had just been sitting. Blake answers with a scowl.

"Watch me.."

She's gone in a flash of smoke and all is silent for a few minutes. Until Enya speaks.

"Are you capable of meeting _normal _people, and not ninja cat girls brooding on rooftops? Or people that want to kill you?"

Her Guardian laughs and shrugs as she swings her feet off the edge of the roof. Below her the people of Vale rush around, doing all they can to help with the refugees from Beacon. She watches Sun slip off and head in the same direction Blake did moments before, snatching a ridiculous looking cloak on the way.

"Eh, maybe. But where's the fun in that?"

—————_Line Break!—————_

"Didn't expect to see you here so quickly."

Qrows rough voice fills the empty room as he glances at his visitor. They step up and sit in the barstool next to him.

The bar closed for the night due to.. catastrophic circumstances, but that didn't stop Qrow from coming in. Breaking and Entering is by far the _least _of his worries right now.

"You smell pretty strongly of alchohol. And what better place for you than a bar with your name on it? I was near the docks anyway." Rouge jokes and scoots a little away from the man. 'Pretty Strongly' is an understatement.

"Shoulda spelled it with a Q. But then I guess the whole Crowbar pun wouldn't have worked out.." He mumbles the last bit and sighs. "Anyway, I've had a rough day. I wanna sleep. Let's just get to it, huh?" Qrow sets his drink down, using all his willpower to do so, and Rouge nods in agreement.

"Why'd you just up and tell me the 'I'm from another world' spiel? You expect people to just believe that?" He raises an eyebrow at the shorter woman. She shrugs simply and lets out a resigned sigh.

"Honestly, I don't care. You're not a threat to me. As arrogant as it sounds, it's true. You've seen that first hand. I'm sure you or someone else would've figured out my story sooner or later. Beyond that, my guns, my outfit. It's pretty obvious I'm not from around here. And as far as you believing me goes, I don't care whether you do or not. It won't stop me from doing my job."

Qrow takes another sip of his alchohol. He doesn't get paid enough for this stuff..

"Guess that makes sense. And I'm glad I was right about you. You remind me of a friend. Fighting the good fight, no matter what. Even if it kills you.." He says the last part laced with sadness. Rouge recognises the look in his eyes. Not everyone is lucky enough to become a guardian.. even then, they wouldn't be the person he knew..

"It has. Many times." She jokes. Qrow snorts and shakes his head.

"You're something else.. so. Where are you from, if you're not from Remnant? In return I'll tell you what you need to know about this place. Don't worry, I used to be a teacher." The last part just makes her worry more.

Rouge looks at the man quizzically. They let this dude around kids? They let this dude _teach _kids..? That must be what's wrong with this world.

"I'm from a place called Earth. It's not much different from here. It has the same type trees, same plants, same animals. Same moon, except ours is a lot less broken and a lot more inhabited by creatures of darkness. And some big spooky nightmare pyramid.." Qrow stares blankly at Rouge and slowly takes another drink, eyes never leaving hers.

"_Please_ tell me none of that followed you here." He finally asks. He has enough crap to deal with already..

"My scans have shown so far that no, we were the only ones to emerge from the.. anomaly." The Ghosts haze drifts to Rouge accusingly for a moment. "I'll keep an eye out though." Enya responds, starting to scan a glass. Qrow looks at her, then at his drink, then back to her.

"Finally found the day I drank too much. Huh." He says rather.. resigned. Poor guy.

"That's my Ghost, Enya. She's the one that brings me back after I've been speared by grumpy old dudes. She's also a lock pick, hacking tool, database, speaker, annoyance, and overall probably the best thing that's ever happened to me." Enya rolls her eyes at the.. semi-praise.

"Awww, how _sweet._ You gonna break out in song next? Can we make it a duet?" He teases and downs the rest of his shot of whiskey. Rouge rolls her eyes in response.

"Sure, let me get my singing cloak." She smiles and searches for a non-alcoholic drink. "Anyway. You said this world is called Remnant? I know this cities called Vale." Qrow nods in response, starting his long explanation.

"Yeah. Humanities been around for a long time. Always had trouble fighting back the Grimm, those dark shadowy bastards trying to eat our insides. Until man discovered _dust. _Gave us the edge to fight back, establish our own little towns and villages. Eventually, kingdoms. And with kingdoms like that.. you get power hungry idiots in charge. The kingdom of Mantle implemented a rule, oppressed their people and squashed freedom of expression. Mistral followed suit, but only in the outlying settlements. If you haven't figured it out by now.. Mistrals full of jerks." He lets out a sarcastic laugh. "Anyway, Vale didn't much like that. Vacuo was pushed towards siding with Mantle and Mistral but pushed back, and sided with Vale. It was known as 'The Great War'. Don't see what was so great about it.. in the end, all the kingdoms bowed to the King of Vale. He refused to rule over all and insisted instead we cooperate. They laid down ground rules, yadda yadda, we all lived happily ever after."

He grumbles and chugs down another bottle of whiskey as Rouge drinks the crash course in. She raises an eyebrow, looking Qrow up and down.

"One, I asked for the name of the planet. Not a brief history lesson. Two, you call this-" She motions at Qrow vaguely. "-Happy?" The man snorts and swirls his drink around.

"Apparently not. According to our good friend, the kingdoms are on the brink of war. The world is ending!" He says it all rather boredly with a dramatic arm wave, and sighs into his bottle. "Want some?"

"I'm good. Not even sure if I can get drunk." Rouge shakes her head. She's never been a fan of drinks.

Enya pops up from behind the counter.

"You can. Even Cayde could get drunk. Somehow.."

Rouge chuckles softly as she remembers some of Caydes bar fight stories. He had a lot of them.

"So why exactly did my doppelgänger do all this? Money? Women? Both?"

"I doubt you two are that similar." The pair stay silent for a few moments as Qrow thinks. He finishes the rest of his drink, then stands.

"I wanna tell you, kid. Trust me. We could sure as hell use someone like you on our side. I may not be a threat to you, but you are a threat to _us._" The Guardian opens her mouth to object, but is stopped by Qrows raised hand. "I know what you said, Guardian of Humanity and light and yadda yadda. But there's more than just me on my side, one of them being the leader of Remnants largest military. I have to be thorough to make sure they run with the 'Ok' _And _that you can handle yourself. I know you can come back to life, but I need to see if you can hold your own in a fight."

Rouge sighs softly. She understands why he's cautious, especially now after all that's happened to the man. She finally nods in agreement.

"I can fight, but I've never fought anything like you guys. Honestly you guys are on another level of melee than we are. The speed and strength at which the people at Beacon fought surpasses even some of our best. Not saying we can't, just we never needed to. Most our fighting is done with guns against hordes and hordes of enemies."

Qrow nods and stretches, glancing at the gun on Rouges hip. A masterwork of craftsmanship.

"I noticed. Never seen someone wield a handgun like you do. You'd make old Ironwood jealous.. He's a fan of those types of guns too."

The guardian raises her eyebrow at that. So normal weapons _do _exist? Does it turn into a _bigger _gun? Who knows..

"And you haven't even seen everything.." She smirks and causes Qrow to chuckle.

"Can't wait to see it then. Tomorrow, I'm going back into Beacon. Some things I gotta check on. A friend I need to bring out.. give them a proper burial. Mind joining me? Don't exactly have to worry about you dying." He extends a hand to the Gunslinger. She looks at it for a moment and takes it, shaking the older mans hand.

"I'd love to. And if you plan to clear it out, let me know. I'd love to join in on that action too." Her enthusiasm earns a soft chuckle from the man and a slight head shake.

"Not for a week, at least. Get Vale wrapped up and Huntsmen back into fighting shape. I'd send you to the walls, but Gods know how many questions that'd raise. I'll work on getting you an ID later. And uh.. you probably need a place to stay, don't you?" He sighs and rubs his forehead lightly. "Alright. Guess I gotta call in a favour. Don't think he'd mind, anyway. Think he could use someone to talk to that isn't unconscious or dead."

Rouge glances at him for a moment, then at Enya. What did we just agree to..?

"And think of it as an assignment. Anything happens to my nieces, and I _will _find a way to make you stay dead." He threatens. Rouge immediately nods.

"Sure, got it. They won't get hurt by an outside force." The wording immediately causes Qrows gaze to sharpen.

"Very specific wording there."

She shrugs simply and stands.

"I don't want to be held responsible for them stubbing their toe or something. They'll be fine. Well.. they can't get any worse."

Qrow just stares blankly at Rouge. Rouge glances between Enya and Qrow. Eventually, Enya speaks.

"You _really _should work on your people skills.."

"_Thank you, _Enya."

—————_Chapter Five: Aftermath—————_

So! Rouge is off to patch! Qrow is sick of this mystical crap! Can he ever catch a break? Probably not. Stupid semblance.

And Neo! Neo's tracking down Cinder. Not Ruby? I dunno.. wasn't exactly Ruby's fault Roman was on that ship, was it?

_Flashback to Vol. 2 Finale_

Uh.. aaaanyway.. Hehe..

And poor Blake. She'll be back though, Suns got her back.

And I honestly hope I explained why Rouge doesn't hide who she is from people like she probably should. Like I said, I think it's just kinda silly to keep it a secret. Like, both sides of the arguments have their reasons. My reasons is because of Blake's Vol. 1 Arc: it all could've been avoided had she just told them the truth. 


	6. Home Life

Hello again, everyone! Another day, another chapter! :D I actually finished this chapter the same day Chapter 5 came out, _but _it was two parts: Staying at the Xiao-Long-Rose Household and the mission to Beacon. My cutoff was after the part to Beacon, and it was.. very very long. XP and I hadn't even done all of it yet. So I decided instead of splitting up the Beacon mission I'd split _this _chapter and write more home shenanigans and then do Chapter 7 with Beacon/After Beacon. So I already have half of Chapter 7 written when this chapters posted. So, sorry it's a bit late. Now..

_Reviews!_

Khoashex: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Because I'm very much enjoying writing it.

CatsAreFluffeh: ...Thanks for the idea. XP honestly had _not _thought of that. The difference between Guardian training and Huntsman training is gonna be major, since it literally didn't matter if they got hurt. Wow. Honestly thank you so much for that. XP

—_Chapter Six: Home Life—_

"Qrow. I'm not running a _daycare _here. Can't you just put her in a hotel?"

Said 'Her' pouts and glares at the man.

"Hey, I take offence to that. I'm not a child.."

"She'll help with the girls, and whatever else you need her to do. Just until I can scrounge up some identification for her. Alright?" Qrow says as he leans in the doorway, strategically blocking Taiyang Xiao-Long from closing the door. They both ignore the woman in question who just sighs and throws up her arms in exasperation.

"Fine, Qrow. But I swear, if my shed burns down again-" Qrow immediately raises a finger and points it at Taiyang.

"Hey, that wasn't our fault! So we put a little to much heat to firecrackers bike, it's called _experimentation. _Something all kids do."

Tai doesn't look convinced. He blinks as he stares blankly at Qrow, then sighs.

"You're on the couch. She can have the spare bedroom." Qrow almost objects but is stopped by his partners raised finger.

"My house, Qrow." The man glares at Qrow, leaving no room for arguments. Dad Powers..

"I'm Rouge. It's nice to meet you, and I'm.. sorry for what you're going through." Rouge finally speaks up. She still has her helmet off and her hood down, hair still up in a ponytail. Taiyang holds out his hand in greeting.

"Just Rouge?" She nods. A little too quickly. He glances at Qrow who just shrugs but bears a stupid smirk on his face. "Well I'm Taiyang, Ruby and Yangs father. Qrow told me you helped my girls.."

Rouge nods and shakes the mans hand in a firm grip. He notices and definitely remembers that.

"Yeah. I couldn't do much to help Yang.. I'm sorry." She sighs softly. There's not much you can do for a lost arm..

"Hey, you tried. That's what I care about. You helped Ruby too. Hell you helped her whole team! If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to get on our good side to spy on us!" The man chuckles then smiles widely. But his eyes.. sharp. Scanning the woman in front of him. She nervously laughs.

"Haha! Yeah. That's.. certainly not something I'd do." She coughs awkwardly and smiles. "At all." Qrow just facepalms and steps inside to raid Tao's liquor cabinet. The Head of the Xiao-Long household holds his gaze on the Gunslinger for a few more moments then steps aside, his smile turning into a genuine one.

"Come on in, kid. I was just testing you. I can tell. You weren't trained to spy on people. Not like some deadbeat drunk I know!" He says the last sentence a little louder, earning a Bird from the Birdman from the kitchen entryway. "Either you have trouble hiding your emotions, or.. you just don't care about hiding them.

She finally steps into the home and looks around. It all feels rather.. cozy. The main room has two couches and a coffee table, the kitchen having.. cabinets. On the ceiling. How do they even reach those..? She can't even reach that high!

_'It reminds me of the Pre-Golden Age videos. The nice families, the warm homes. Who would have thought we'd experience it first hand?' _Enya speaks in Rouge's neural link as the pair looks around. Taiyang joins Qrow in the kitchen in order to keep him from drinking the rubbing alchohol.

"I always wondered why they never gave us a place to live in the tower. Or the City. But.. a few hundred thousand guardians? At least.. that's a lot of room." She lightly runs her hand across the couch and sighs. Before Enya can respond though, she's interrupted.

"Uh.. who ya talking to?" Tai asks from the entryway to the kitchen. He holds a few bandages and the rubbing alchohol he pried from Qrow, eyebrow raised curiously.

"She's got a tiny friend in her head. A really cute calculator." Qrow says from his spot rummaging in the fridge.

"Uh.. Huh. You have a calculator in your head?" Taiyang looks at Rouge blankly. She just facepalms and waves her hand, Enya appearing in the air.

"This is Enya. She's my ghost. She's _not _just a calculator." Enya nods in agreement.

"Huh. Atlas Tech?" Tai doesn't look surprised, looking Enya up and down. She shakes her.. shell.

"I'm not Atlas technology. I was created by the Traveller to aid my guardian in defence of humanity." Taiyang nods for a moment in understanding. A minute passes in silence.

"Can you do my taxes?"

Enya just sighs.

"I'm capable of hacking my way into alien technology and security systems in the span of a few seconds."

Taiyang nods again slowly as he imagines the little thing hacking alien technology.

"Is that a yes?"

Rouge holds back her laughter, hands over her mouth. Enya's shell spins in annoyance.

"I can calculate them. If you haven't noticed, I lack the necessary appendages needed in order to write the numbers down."

"Ah, right. That's why you have her." He points to her guardian and they both nod.

"We make a great team. Even if she is annoying at times. And reckless. And idiotic, and dim, and-"

"_Thank you, _Enya! I'm sure he gets it." Tai laughs and heads upstairs, motioning for Rouge and Enya to follow. Qrow collapses on the couch a few moments later, out before he his head hits the soft pillow.

The pair step into the spare bedroom, the colours grey and neutral. Enya hovers around a little compiling a map of the house already.

"You can sleep here. Bathrooms on the last door on the left. Ruby and Yangs room is across the hall. Mines just back downstairs. Shower and get some rest, tomorrow's liable to be a long day, too.. Qrow told me you two have plans to go into Beacon." He sighs and steps back out across the hall to change Yang's bandages. Rouge slowly presses her hand down on the bed experimentally.

"It's so.. soft. Like I could just sink down into it.." She sighs and slips her cloak off, hanging it on a hook that fits it.. surprisingly well. Like it was made for a similar article of clothing. Enya spins and Rouge's armour transmats into her inventory, leaving the Guardian in a simple skintight black suit Guardians wear under their armour.

"It's weird, isn't it? It's like being a normal person for once." The Gunslinger nods in agreement. It's very weird. No missions, no Vex Invasion, no Hive on the Moon, no Fallen poking at the Cities defences..

Taiyang peeks in the room a second later.

"Hey uh, just wanted to let you know. Don't touch the stuff on the third shelf in the shower. That's Yangs stuff and missing arm or no, she _will _probably at least attempt to kill you." He lets out a short laugh. "And.. is that all the clothes you have?" He doesn't look the girl up and down because he's a proper, respectable dad. This woman is probably his daughters age. She's totally- ah crap he's staring. Good going, daderino.

"Yeah. Don't exactly go around without my armour back home.." Her words bring Taiyang back to reality, his looks not bothering the girl in the slightest.

"Sorry. Must be rough where you're from if that's the case.. but.. I think I have some old clothes that are roughly your size. It's a loan, though. Try not to tear them, and get Qrow to buy you some more. Or maybe I'll force him to. I'll leave them on the counter in the bathroom for you." He gives her a warm smile and heads down the hall. The Guardian watches him go for a moment before looking around the room a little. She steps over to the wall opposite of the bed. Rouge sighs and rests Living Memory on a small desk, looking over it. She opens the cylinder; the indication lights still flashing red.

"What's our ammo count, En?" Rouge asks as she unloads Living Memory and tosses the cylinder of ammo into the air, Enya fading it into her inventory before it reaches the apex of it's journey.

"Two hundred and three hand cannon rounds, seventy four sniper rifle rounds, twenty five rounds for Fighting Lion, fifteen arrows for Leviathan, three hundred rounds for Hammerhead, twenty grenades for Anarchy and Swarm of the Raven, forty four arrows for The Vow and Subtle Calamity, and six hundred submachine gun rounds." She lists off. Rouge bites her cheek. Her bullets are now a precious resource. Once they're used up she won't get any more.

"We'll ask Qrow in the morning what they use here. I'd like to keep what I have just in case. They seem pretty effective against the Nightmares.." Enya nods and scans over Living Memory a few times.

"This is a rather old Vanguard issue model. I can't find any record of it, as they discontinued it shortly after we discovered Rasputin. However.." Her shell spins and she shows a hologram of a weapon schematic. The designation reads **'Better Devils - Issue 2.0'**_. _

_"_Lord Shaxx continued to issue the Better Devils model as a reward for Crucible matches even to this day. The only difference being the Better Devils model being a bit more hardened in order to handle the firing of Explosive Payload rounds. We _should _be able to use these to repair Living Memory." The Guardian nods and sits in the desk chair as she looks at the instructions hovering in front of her, the blue light illuminating the room.

"But where would we get the materials? The Foundaries aren't exactly open on how they make the parts in the first place. These are just maintenance instructions." Enya's shell twists and spins as she looks over the schematic. She turns to Rouge after.

"Well congratulations Guardian. You get to be the spearhead in the combination of two galaxies technologies!" She says cheerfully, clearly excited about the concept. What a little nerd. Rouge quickly smiles at her little light.

"Cool. I get to be a scientist. I'll do that tomorrow though, probably get Mr. Xiao-Longs help." She stands again, and Enya makes the hologram go away. She spins and looks back at Rouge.

"Why not Qrow?"

"Ah yes. Let's let the drunk man around foreign, fragile technology. Wonderful idea little light."

"...Alright. Point taken."

Rouge let's out a soft laugh and heads to the bathroom. She takes a long, much needed shower to relax. Thank goodness they still have hot water here.. After she steps out she finds the clothes Taiyang set aside for her; a White shirt and black jeans. She gently rubs her hand across the soft fabric of the shirt, smelling its sweet scent. Roses, Chocolate, and.. a bit of Vanilla? She waves her hand and uses a bit of her super energy to dry herself off like the totally responsible and wise Hunter she is, then quickly slips the clothes on. They fit her quite well, the shirt feeling rather.. warm. Comforting.

"You look nice. Normal, like the people in the Last City. It's weird.."

Rouge shakes her head and smiles.

"Do you enjoy watching me shower?"

"No. You used a bit of light, so I got curious. I should have figured you used it like that."

She laughs softly and shrugs, fixing her hair up in a- you guessed it. A ponytail.

"Hey. It's easy, and it's fast. Why have powers if you don't use them?"

Enya sighs and rolls her shell around her body.

"You have powers blessed by the equivalent of a god.. and you use them to dry off after a shower."

Rouge thinks for a moment, then nods.

"Yep!" She smiles at her Ghost. The pair make their way back to the spare bedroom and Rouge crawls into the bed, relaxing into the soft mattress. This all feels.. so nice. So relaxing. Just.. a normal bed, in a normal house, in a normal small town. With a.. somewhat normal family. Maybe she should stay.. Tai wouldn't mind, would he? She's not exactly useless.

"Goodnight, Enya. See you in the morning."

Enya twirls happily in the air, starlight shell spinning happily.

"Goodnight, Rouge. Sweet dreams."

—_Line Break!—_

_"'You can't run forever.' Hahaha.. Ironic, considering where you stand."_

_The woman shrouded in darkness sits atop a topped pillar, the Last Safe City burning around her. Once again Thorn is in her hand with her thumb resting next to the hammer._

_"You should really take your own advice, Ro. Not even a universe away can you run from me." She waves her hand and the scenery slowly changes._

_Around her Grimm stalk around, toppled marble littering the ground. Bales CCT tower stands snapped in two, the other half resting at its base._

_"Vale, The Last City, the Dreaming City.. it doesn't matter how far you run. The darkness will always find you."_

_Rouge finally scoffs. Years of these lucid dreams have gotten her used to them._

_"And I'll always be here to stop you. Like, come on, we've had this conversation a thousand times. Each time, I've always told you the same thing."_

_Rouge smirks up at the woman of darkness._

_"Go fuck yourself."_

Rouge slowly wakes in the morning and rubs the tiredness out of her eyes. She looks around to see where she is.. still in the same room. The Xiao-Long household. She glances out the window, sunlight pouring in.

"You're finally awake. I monitored your vitals.. you had that dream again, didn't you?" The Guardian sighs and nods as she sits up, slowly crawling out of bed. She slips on the jeans again and gets up.

"Yeah. It's pretty stupid. I blame you." She mumbles, still waking up.

"I think that's just a side affect of the light. Vivid dreams. The darkness actively trying to combat you in your own mind. It's either that, or you're just crazy. I say the latter." Rouge lets out a soft laugh and rolls her eyes. Maybe it's both? Probably not both. Just.. her fears adapting in the presence of her light. It was scary at first to see what is essentially the darkness version of yourself in her burning home. Years later, though..? It's just kinda funny.

The pair venture down stairs to find a surprisingly sober Qrow and Taiyang, sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. Both of their eyes linger on her clothes for a moment.

"You're up. I was beginning to think you were gonna sleep all day." Tai jokes and motions to a third cup at another seat, still steaming hot. She sits and adds two creams and three sugars to it. The Gunslinger nods in thanks to Taiyang- after she's had her first sip.

"Thanks. And yeah.. honestly don't think I've ever slept in a bed that soft. It felt like a cloud. And trust me, I've felt clouds before. Less fun than it sounds.." Qrow and Tai glance at each other. They share the same thought: _'Are things really that bad where she's from?' _

"I see the clothes fit pretty well. You're about her size." Rouge raises an eyebrow in the middle of a long sip at Tai's words.

"Her?"

"My wife, Summer. Ruby's Mom." He says with a sad smile, looking down at his coffee. Qrow looks away and sighs.

"Is she helping in Vale?" Qrow practically freezes but Taiyang just shakes his head.

"No. She.. went on a mission a long time ago. She never made it back.." Rouge's face falls. _Oh. _Shit.. She looks down at her coffee awkwardly.

"I'm sorry." Tai waves his hand dismissively and Qrow finally unfreezes. He releases a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"It's fine, kid. Don't worry. She would've loved you. Visitor from another world? She'd probably be glued to your side for a week or two.. At least. Ruby's just like her, so.. watch out." He teases lightly and laughs. Joking to lighten the mood. Qrow finally speaks up, deciding to get straight to business.

"So, what do you know about the Grimm?" Rouge shrugs in response. Enya hovers just in the living room, being chased around the couch by a tiny corgi.

"I know that they're a sort of heirarchy. Pack Alpha's, different species. All that. They seem to be able to home in on you when you're in one spot for too long though.. and they don't seem to care whether they die or not. Just that you're dead." Qrow and Taiyang share a look and Qrow sighs. Short answer: next to nothing, really. Great.

"Not exactly. They're smarter than you think. Older ones actually have half a mind. The older, the smarter. They probably attacked you since you didn't have a very visible weapon like most huntsmen do.. Aka, Easy prey." He snorts. Easy my butt.. "And they're attracted to negativity. Fear, Anger, Sadness. If it's negative, they can sense it."

Rouge stays silent for a moment. They're attracted to.. Negativity? How? How have they even survived this long..?

"How have you fought them? How did you survive? The only reason we did is because we could hide.. the others of us are allergic to staying dead."

Qrow stands for a moment and his body glows, red light surrounding his body. He sits back down and places a red crystal on the table.

"Aura." He motions to himself, then at the crystal. "And Dust. Our main weapons against the Grimm. Our Aura protects us from harm, but it fades the more damage we take. Every living creature on Remnant has it. Even our furry little buddy over there.." He motions to Zwei in the living room. Enya makes a projection of a ball and tosses it, Zwei running after it and bringing it back.

"Do I have an Aura?" Qrow and Taiyang both shrug.

"Honestly we're not sure. You're not _from _Remnant, remember? You could be an exception. Which puts you at a disadvantage as far as we know. Before you get to the whole Undying thing, of course." Tai laughs lightly and finishes his coffee. We could find out.. but what if it reacts differently to her light?

"We can save that for later. I'm scared as to how that would react to my light.. the last thing I need right now is to sever my connection with the Traveller and the light.." Qrow nods in agreement with Rouge.

"Agreed. I don't want to throw the one wildcard I've got out the window over an experiment." He says and swirls his coffee before taking another sip.

"I was planning on heading up to Beacon today, but I think I'm gonna try and pinpoint our.. good friends, first. Have a couple people I can talk to. You.." Qrow motions to Rouge with his cup. "Stay here. Enjoy the cozy home. Try not to eat all Tai's food."

Rouge smirks and rolls her eyes. She doesn't eat _that _much. Most of the time.

"And I'll see about getting your ID while I'm out. Don't exactly want you cooped up in here all the time.." He stands and tosses his empty cup to Taiyang, who just barely catches it in time. He sends a glare to the other man as he adds it to those he's washing.

"Before you go, I had a question. About Dust. Is that what your guns use?" Qrow nods and brings out one of his rounds for Harbinger. It looks a lot like a regular shotgun shell, minus the red glow coming from it. It gently rests on the table after he sets it down.

"Yep. Dust. Mankind's saviour. Lots of different types, most popular are Fire, Electricity, Ice, and Earth. Guessing your guns don't use that?"

Rouge sets Last Word on the table with a curt head shake. She takes the cylinder out, showing it to the two men.

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how it works. The technology was made before my time, in the Golden Age. The cities foundaries managed to recreate it, and we.. don't really complain. It shoots, we use it. We have our own gunsmith in the tower that takes care of our weapons. Never really looked into it.. or maybe the Warlocks do. Books are for nerds anyways." She lets out a sigh as Qrow looks it over. He honestly has no idea what he's looking at. But it's definitely not from Remnant.

"Yep.. I got no clue either. Doesn't look familiar. Probably shouldn't toy with it, either.." He sets the cylinder back on the table and leans back in the chair.

Only for the leg to snap, causing him to spill out onto the floor in a string of curses. He picks himself back up quickly though.

"Case and point." He grumbles. Rouge looks at him weirdly. The furniture doesn't _look _that weak.. in fact it looks incredibly sturdy all things considered.

"What was that? Doubt that Mr. Xiao-Long would sabotage his own furniture to harm your pride.." Tao laughs and shrugs. Honestly, he hadn't thought about it. But with Qrows semblance, he didn't _need _to.

"Right. Next little lesson.. Aura comes with Semblances. Special abilities all of us have.. Yang can dish the damage she takes out twice as hard, Ruby's allows her to reach high speeds and creates a mess all over the place.." He waves his hand dramatically in the air. He'd cleaned up way too many rose petals in his life..

"So not so different from us.. except ours is more universal. Not that there aren't people who push their light to the next level. Recently the Traveller.. increased our power. A lot of Guardians now have new abilities, me included. And we're only growing stronger.. the threat we face almost caused humanities extinction the first time we faced it."

Qrow and Taiyang glance at each other for a moment. Maybe she's not so different from us, after all..

"Yeah, well you and the old man here can talk history. I've got work to do." He salutes the pair with two fingers before heading out, grabbing Harbinger in his way out. Taiyang crosses his arms in thought.

"You know basic medical, don't you?" She shrugs simply.

"More or less. People outside the walls don't have the light." He nods and scrounges up a roll of bandages from a cabinet- the bottom one- and hands them to her alongside rubbing alchohol and cleansing wipes.

"Can you change Yangs bandages? I'm gonna fix something to eat for them. And us, too. I don't know about you, but I'm starving." He chuckles lightly and turns back to the kitchen. In the living room Zwei still plays with Enya, Enya now creating a small holographic Zwei to confuse him. Rouge smiles and shakes her head. They don't get to enjoy stuff like this often back in the Last City..

Speaking of which, how is she even supposed to get back to the Tower? _Can _she even get back..? Is this her new life..?

She snaps out of her daze when she realises she's at the girls room. A quick glance inside shows the two still unconscious, almost looking like nothing is wrong.. and they weren't in a fight for their lives the night before. Yangs been changed out of the clothes she wore at Beacon and into one of her yellow shirts, and Rouge _prays _she has bottoms on.. Ruby has on a simple pair of gray pyjamas. She kind of expected something different.. a onesie maybe? Maybe those don't exist in Remnant.

She pulls up a chair to sit next to Yangs bed. The bandages on her right arm wrapped tight. Rouge sighs and gently starts to unravel them..

Only for Yangs eyes to snap open, blood red. In an instant her left hand comes up in a fist to punch Rouge's lights out. Rouge catches it in her palm and stands ready to backstep if needed.

"Yang! Yang, it's alright! You're home! I'm a friend! Calm down." She speaks softly to the angered woman. Then she notices Yangs right arm, moving on instinct. Trying to lash out in a muscle memory punch.. only for the muscles to not be there. Yang slowly notices- her gaze trailing up where she feels her arm should be, to where it is now. Her eyes fade back to their normal Lilac hue, and she slowly lowers her left arm. Taiyang is in the doorway a second later, looking at his daughters horrified expression.

"Yang.."

"D-Dad..?"

Rouge takes a few steps back and Taiyang takes her place, hugging Yang close to his chest. Yang bursts into tears as she clings to her fathers chest.

"Shhh, it's okay.. everything's gonna be alright.."

Rouge winces at Tai's words, glad that neither of them can see her. Things are a lot worse than she has any idea about..

The Gunslinger quietly steps out and back downstairs, headed to the kitchen. In it she finds Zwei panicking at the bottom of the stove and running in circles. Enya flies in circles as well as she tries to put the fires out on the stove. Sigh.. She suppose she should stop the mans house from burning down. That'd be the best course of action.

Rouge quickly grabs the pan from the stove and holds it in her hands. She stares at it. Typically if it was on fire she could just slam it in the dirt to get it to stop.. Hm.. Oh! Sink!

She drops the pan in the sink and turns the water on. Job done!

Except it wasn't. The grease from the pan goes everywhere once the water is added, and Rouge does the smart thing.

She uses her body as a shield. Enya, sensing her Guardians moves, unequips the clothes Tai loaned to her.. causing burning oil to coat her now unprotected body, burning her all over. She clamps her jaw down and bears through the pain. Surprisingly the grease burns more than a Taken Knights stupid napalm shooting face.

Rouge spills out the back door and onto the grass. She groans in pain, a very good portion of her body scalded and burned.

"Enya. Gun." Her voice is raspy and horse, but Last Word appears in her hand. She puts the barrel to her head and pulls the trigger.

A few moments later Rouge stands good as new- _with _her clothes back on. She holsters Last Word and it disappears again.

"So. What did we learn?" Enya inquires sarcastically.

"Water sucks. No wonder we don't have a class based on it." Rouge grumbles as she steps back inside. She pats out a few smaller fires that started from her amazing move. Life outside of combat was supposed to be simple..

"You know. They're still probably hungry. It would be nice to cook for them." Enya chimes in. She probably just wants to watch Rouge mess up again..

"Yeah, yeah.. he was just making hamburgers anyway. Glad to see those exist here too." She sighs in relief and cleans the pan she was using. She stares at it for a moment.

"I'm not making hamburgers." Enya tilts a little and zooms a little closer to Rouge.

"Why's that? It shouldn't be too hard. You've made some before." Rouge nods, but then holds up both hands.

"You eat them with these." Enya blinks a few times and stares at Rouge. Has her guardian gone insane?

"Yang just lost her arm. I'm not giving her a freaking _hamburger _that mostly takes both freaking hands to eat. Understand now?" Enya nods. Giving her a hamburger is a horrible idea. What was he thinking? Or.. was he? He could be having difficulties with the whole situation just as everyone else..

"Yeah. Uh.. what else do they have.." Rouge bums as she rummages through the refrigerator. Enya nudges the top freezer open, scanning the contents.

"Oh! Rouge! Chicken nuggets!" Her guardian instantly pops up. Chicken nuggets? Hell yeah! Those are universal. Everyone likes those. And! You only need one arm to eat them. Perfect!

The nuggets quickly find their way into the pan with a little guidance from an overeager Guardian. She lets her mind drift as she cooks.

Everything seems to lose focus as she does.. and she feels a small pair of arms wrap around her waist. A warm smile comes to her face at the gesture.

"Chicken nuggets again, fire bomb? Aren't you tired of those things?" A playful voice sings. A sound she's grown to love.

"Mm, these things? Never. I could eat them _all the time._" She says triumphantly. Rouge can feel the person shake their head against her back. But it feels.. distant. Numbed. For a second she hears someone call her name.

"What was that..?" Rouge glances out of the small kitchen. When had the cabinets gotten so high..?

"Probably just the twins. You're always so worried.. like something bad will happen. Relax a little, firecracker." The person turns Rouge to face them. Concern fills her deep green eyes, black hair in her usual twin pigtails. Just like how Rouge always has her ponytail, she has her pigtails. Matching.. in a way.

"Just a feeling I've got. Sorry.. just don't want anything to happen to you." She smiles at the smaller woman, who only comes up just below her shoulders. Rouge feels her shoulders shake lightly and she tilts her head.. _'What?'_

"Rouge! Hello?! Anyone in there? Hey, little.. floaty thing. Can you do something?" Rouge blinks a few times. That's certainly not U-

Her surroundings slowly come back to her. The Xiao-Long household. Taiyang stands in front of her shaking her shoulders and trying to get her attention. When he sees her eyes focus he sighs in relief.

"Thank Gods. I was worried for a minute, kid.. you just kinda spaced out. You were talking to someone.. and it wasn't your little buddy." He looks at her still concerned. And with a look on his face that clearly reads _'What the hell just happened?' _

"I uh.. spaced out, I guess. Thought I was somewhere else. Some-when else, I think.." Enya hovers close by as she does a scan. Her shell twirls once as she thinks.

"Guardians like Rouge usually aren't so.. docile. Always fighting, always in the thick of things. Never really slowing down. Either in the fight or fighting to survive. I think she just needs a bit to adjust to not having to be on edge all the time.." Enya finally concludes. Taiyang nods and sighs sadly.

"Yeah. I get it. A warrior, not a housewife. I know.. trust me. I married two." He lets out a light laugh and shakes his head. "But it's kind of the normal around here. Huntsmen, I mean."

Rouge nods in response, the events of the dream running through her mind. The nickname, the woman's voice.. it all seemed so familiar.

"Yeah.. sorry I didn't make hamburgers like you were. I didn't think Yang would like getting a sandwich so soon after realising she's down an eating utensil.." Taiyang winces lightly and nods in thanks. He pats Rouges shoulder and takes one of the plates.

"Yeah, I.. didn't think of that. Didn't get much sleep last night.. thanks for that though. These are some of her favourites." Rouge snorts a little and pops a nugget into her mouth.

"Aren't dey like, erryones favorites?" She smiles brightly. Tai nods and chuckles.

"Yeah. Ruby likes them too. We buy a lot.. or I did, when they were still here."

"You've still got like three bags in there.."

Taiyang shrugs at the statement.

"Gotta be prepared." He winks then disappears upstairs. After, Enya slowly turns to Rouge.

"Was he.."

Her guardian immediately interrupts her.

"No! God, no.. don't even want to think of that." She cringes a little. He's just.. not her type. Bleh..

Before her thoughts get any worse she grabs her own plate of chicken nuggets and puts some barbecue sauce to dip them in on the plate. She sits at the table as she eats. After ten minutes of silence Rouge finally breaks it.

"Hey, En? You think we'll be able to get back to the Tower?" Rouge pops another nugget into her mouth. She's only got three left.. that thought makes her kinda sad.

"Honestly? I highly doubt we will. I'm not sure where in space we are, or when. How you managed to get a Vex portal to do _this _I have no idea. Perhaps the Undying Mind tried to make its way back through, and in doing so short circuited it's destination parameters..?" Enya sighs softly. So many possibilities. But of course the only one is where they're stranded universes away.. _if _they're still in the same one. What if she short circuited reality? Travelled through the multiverse itself?

Ha! Right. The multiverse is just a theory. A game-

No? Alright..

"The only hope we have is if the Vanguard finds _us. _Which I have no doubt they're attempting, but.. Vex Technology has always been difficult to work with. Now we're not only hoping they work with it, but also control it and somehow replicate something that only approximately five people _might _have seen you do..?" She lets out another sigh. "We're talking fifty years as a rough guess. At a bare minimum, just to be able to create out very own Vex Gates and control them. Then we would need Osiris' help to navigate them, and possibly Rasputin's help to even _locate _us. I honestly believe they'd have better luck reviving _Riven _and making another Wish."

Rouge stays silent for quite a few minutes as she contemplates all of this.

_This _is her life now. This world, these people. She's _their _Guardian now.

This is her new Home.

She slips another chicken nugget into her mouth.

"Well. Shit."

—_End Chapter Six—_

Like I said! Next chapter is half done. I kinda liked this one though. I was able to add an idea I had floating around that I'm not gonna elaborate on cause _spoilers _as well as _another _Ro death. That's.. three now? Moon to Remnant, Qrow at Beacon, and now Herself. Fun! Also, PSA: Never add water to grease fires if you're inexperienced in cooking. It will literally as stated make the grease fly out of the pan since oil and water don't mix and oil is.. more bouyant? Than water. The water boiling will then cause the oil to fly out. Basically a napalm bomb or something. So yeah! Be careful. Please.

And one last question: should I up the rating? Cause I feel like Rouge commuting Suicide like that is a little.. rough for teenagers. And I may put a warning in the summary..


End file.
